On September 2, 2020, fifteen young people from the State of Baja, California filed a federal lawsuit against the Mexican Government. According to the plaintiffs, the lawsuit was filed and admitted in a District Court in Administrative Matters and asks that the Mexican government issue regulations and public policies derived from the General Law on Climate Change and the Mexican Constitution. The General Law on Climate Change was passed in 2012 but, according to the plaintiffs, there are no regulations or public policies to implement the statute.
On May 20, 2022, the District Court dismissed the case for a lack of standing. The Court argued that the plaintiffs did not prove that the lack of climate change regulations and public policies that derived from the General Law on Climate Change and the Mexican Constitution directly violated the plaintiffs’ human rights. Furthermore, the Court considered that the plaintiffs did not prove that they are in a situation that differentiates them from the rest of society, which is a procedural requirement of an amparo lawsuit. Therefore, the case was dismissed.
The decision was challenged by the plaintiffs on June 6, 2022. The appeal’s decision is pending.