Kanuk, et al. v. State of Alaska

Six Alaskan children sued the State of Alaska, arguing that the state's failure to limit greenhouse gas emissions violated the public trust duty established in Art. VIII of the Alaska Constitution. The Superior Court of Alaska dismissed the case in 2012, ruling it non-justiciable as it involved political questions. The Supreme Court of Alaska affirmed the dismissal in 2014, though it differed in reasoning, concluding that a declaratory judgment would not settle the dispute as it would have no impact on the state's conduct or emissions.

• The plaintiffs, six children, argued that the State of Alaska has a fiduciary obligation under Art. VIII of the Alaska Constitution to protect the atmosphere as a public trust resource, requesting that the state reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 6% annually from 2013 through at least 2050.
• The Superior Court of Alaska dismissed the claims on the grounds of non-justiciability, stating that there was no legal authority to support the claim that the atmosphere is a public trust resource and that assessing the state's duty would involve policy questions beyond the judiciary's capacity.
• The Supreme Court of Alaska affirmed the dismissal but disagreed with the lower court on some points, ruling that the plaintiffs had standing and that the question of whether the atmosphere is a public trust resource was a matter of constitutional interpretation rather than a political question.
• The Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the case because a declaratory judgment would not provide a resolution to the controversy, as it would not change the state's conduct or affect greenhouse gas emissions.

APA

Contributor, C. (2024). Kanuk, et al. v. State of Alaska. ClimaTalk. https://climatalk.org/2024/03/18/kanuk-et-al-v-state-of-alaska/

Chicago

Contributor, ClimaTalk. Kanuk, et al. v. State of Alaska. ClimaTalk, 2024. https://climatalk.org/2024/03/18/kanuk-et-al-v-state-of-alaska/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Contributor |first1=ClimaTalk |title=Kanuk, et al. v. State of Alaska |publisher=ClimaTalk |date=18 March 2024 |url=https://climatalk.org/2024/03/18/kanuk-et-al-v-state-of-alaska/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{contributor2024kanuk, author = {Contributor, ClimaTalk}, title = {{Kanuk, et al. v. State of Alaska}}, institution = {ClimaTalk}, year = {2024}, month = mar, url = {https://climatalk.org/2024/03/18/kanuk-et-al-v-state-of-alaska/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }