Historic Montana youth climate lawsuit upheld by state Supreme Court
A youth-led climate lawsuit won another historic decision today, with the Montana Supreme Court upholding a 2023 ruling that the state must consider climate change and environmental protections in the approval process for new energy projects.
It’s the first youth-led climate lawsuit to have this level of success in the US, possibly setting precedent for others around the country.
The lawsuit, Held v. Montana, was brought by 16 Montana plaintiffs between ages 5-22, and supported by Our Children’s Trust, a law firm representing youth climate lawsuits across the country.
At issue was the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), signed by Montana Governor (and violent criminal) Greg Gianforte. MEPA explicitly disallows consideration of environmental factors in the approval process for oil and gas permits. The youth argued that this law violated their rights under the Montana state constitution, which guarantees the right to “a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.”
Judge Kathy Seeley of the First Judicial District Court of Montana first ruled in favor of the youth in 2023, holding that greenhouse gases cause significant harm to the plaintiffs, and invalidating the Montana law that stops environmental review as “unconstitutional on its face.”
The state then appealed the decision, with the support of fossil fuel companies, despite the unequivocal clarity in the Montana constitution’s guarantee of a clean and healthful environment. The Montana Attorney General’s office falsely said that Montana, home of the largest coal reserves in the US and one of the highest rates of emissions per capita in the country, can have “no meaningful impact” on the climate. This is incorrect, as coal is the dirtiest fuel humans use for power, and Montana’s emissions per capita are roughly 4x as high as California’s.
And today, the Supreme Court ruled to uphold Judge Seeley’s decision, by a 6-1 margin. So it wasn’t even close. The state’s Constitution, which explicitly calls for a healthful environment, really does require the state to aim for a healthy environment, according to the Court.
The 2023 ruling was the first ruling in favor of a youth-led climate lawsuit in the US, several of which have been proceeding through state and federal courts in recent years. In 2024, Hawaii youth won a settlement that will lead to transformation of the state’s transportation system to achieve zero emission operation for all ground transport and inter-island sea and air transport by 2045.
Some other lawsuits, though, have been prematurely dismissed by courts.
The most notable example is Juliana v. US, which argues that the federal government has violated the due process clause in depriving these youth of their rights to life, liberty, and property through environmental degradation.
This lawsuit was blocked by the 9th District Court in California in 2020 in a split 2-1 decision, ruling on the ridiculous grounds that the youth did not have standing to bring a lawsuit on these claims. Standing means that plaintiffs must show that they have suffered injury from a law in order to file a lawsuit over it.
So, despite that children and all other living things are in actual fact harmed by a declining environment, the district court still said the youth couldn’t bring the lawsuit.
The Juliana plaintiffs are continuing to try to get their case heard, and are currently appealing to the US Supreme Court – which is no stranger to bonehead opinions, and has taken a number of bizarre positions on the issue of standing lately. So we’ll have to see how that turns out.
But the Held decision today reaffirmed the first real precedent in the US, in the form of an actual ruling set by a court, stating that the rights of young people to a clean and healthful environment have been violated by law. It may be a particularly egregious law in this case, and as such there may not be quite as perfect a set of circumstances as this in other lawsuits, but nevertheless this decision could light a fire under other cases in other states.
And best yet – there’s nowhere else for the state or the oil industry to take this case. This is a state case about state law, so the US Supreme Court has nothing to do with it. It’s now final: Montana needs to respect its own law and take the environment into account, just as its Constitution says it does.
And now, this case could serve as a signal to other judges that it is indeed possible and reasonable to take a stance in favor of the best interests of the people, and in favor of constitutional law, rather than cowing to the power of the fossil fuel industry (even in a state that is largely run by it).
Great job, kids.
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Coca-Cola’s bottling partners in India are going electric, three wheels at a time. The company just announced a major expansion of its electric delivery fleet, adding thousands of electric three-wheeled vehicles (often called e-rickshaws or electric tuk-tuks) to its logistics operations across the country.
These compact electric vehicles are already a common sight on India’s roads, used for everything from passenger transport to last-mile cargo deliveries. Now Coca-Cola’s bottlers are ramping up their use of these efficient EVs as part of a broader sustainability and welfare initiative dubbed “Vividhta ka Uphaar,” which translates to “a gift of diversity.”
According to the company, the rollout is already underway, with more than 5,000 electric three-wheelers integrated into delivery routes in cities such as Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, and more. The vehicles not only reduce tailpipe emissions but also lower noise pollution and operating costs, making them a win for both the company and the communities they serve.
Coca-Cola joins a growing list of multinational corporations turning to electric tuk-tuks to clean up their delivery fleets in Asia. IKEA has deployed similar electric three-wheelers in India and other Southeast Asian countries as part of its push to achieve zero-emissions deliveries. Amazon and Flipkart have also experimented with three-wheeled EVs to reach urban customers on tight, traffic-clogged streets.
While North America often focuses on four-wheeled electric trucks and vans for commercial use, much of the developing world relies on these nimble three-wheeled workhorses. Affordable, maneuverable, and easy to charge, electric rickshaws are a natural fit for dense cities with hot climates – especially where small businesses and large corporations alike need efficient last-mile solutions.
Electrek’s Take
These types of EVs can’t come soon enough. They use electric drivetrains that are closer in size to an electric bicycle than an electric delivery truck or van (usually 2-4kW motors and 3-5 kWh batteries), yet can carry loads closer in size to those same trucks and vans.
Sure, they can’t carry quite the same tonnage, but they’re often more appropriately sized for the kind of last-mile delivery that so many companies require.
I actually bought an electric tuk-tuk back in 2023 and found it to be the perfect ‘city truck’ for my lifestyle, where I live car-free in a city and my wife and I travel by e-bike and e-motorcycle. For the few times we need to actually haul stuff, an electric tuk-tuk or rickshaw gives truck-like capacity in a smaller and more efficient vehicle. What’s not to like?!
Images via: Coca-Cola
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![Yangwang U9 Xtreme cracks 300 mph to become fastest production car EVER [video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/09/Yangwang-U9-Xtreme.jpg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Move over, Bugatti! The new Chinese Yangwang U9 Xtreme electric hypercar just blasted its way to a staggering, 308.4 mph top speed on a German test track, seizing the “world’s fastest car” crown and busting the last traces of the myth that electric cars are slow.
Just weeks after BYD announced that the nearly 3,000 hp, all-electric Yangwang U9 Track Edition model set a new global speed record for electric vehicles after hitting a ridiculous 472.41 km/h (~293 mph), the Yangwang crew returned to Germany’s Automotive Testing Papenburg GmbH (ATP) test track with the U9 Xtreme with its sights set on a new goal. They didn’t want the world’s fastest EV title – they wanted the world’s fastest production car title. Period.
The BYD Yangwang crew got that record, rocketing all the way to 496.22 km/h – that’s 308.4 mph to you and me!
“This record was only possible because the U9 Xtreme simply has incredible performance,” explains German GT racing driver Marc Basseng, who piloted the Chinese EV on its record-setting run. “Technically, something like this is not possible with a combustion engine. Thanks to the electric motor, the car is quiet, there are no load changes, and that allows me to focus even more on the track.”
The Yangwang U9 features the world’s first mass-produced 1,200V ultra-high-voltage vehicle platform. Developed by BYD, the car is powered by the company’s latest li-ion phosphate batteries in BYD’s now-familiar “blade” configuration.
The U9 Xtreme’s record-setting run dethrones the previous Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300+, which managed 304.8 mph back in 2019. The Bugatti now has to settle for the lesser “world’s fastest combustion-powered production car” title, which is objectively lame.
Definitely NOT lame
The company says it’s selling “no more than 30” of the Xtreme U9 EVs, presumably to customers with incredibly long driveways. The Xtreme version features smaller, 20″ wheels (instead of 21s), and gets wider, 325 mm tires (up from 275 mm) to match the rears. The fronts also ride on a narrower track.
You can watch Marc Messang put the 3,000 hp Yangwang U9 Xtreme electric hypercar to the test in the video, below, then let us know what you think of China’s first-ever world record-setting vehicle in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
Fastest production car EVER
SOURCE: CarNewsChina.
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With dual electric motors pumping out 776 hp, over 400 miles of all-electric range, and a relatively low MSRP, the new AUDI E5 Flagship Quattro electric wagon is electrifying the Chinese wagon market – scoring over 10,000 orders in its first thirty minutes on sale!
First launched last fall, the new Audi-backed AUDI sub-brand kept the sexy wagon aesthetic but ditched the Germans’ interlocking rings and Auto Union heritage in favor of a simple, all-caps AUDI logo on the E concept wagon. Now seen in production trim, the production AUDI E5 Sportback is surprisingly true to the original concept – except in the horsepower department, that is.
But, while a production car having lower horsepower figures than the concept car that preceded it is pretty typical, the production AUDI E5 is different: it actually offers more peak power than the 765 hp concept!
That’s right, kids! the range-topping Flagship Quattro version of the new AUDI E5 Sportback offers buyers 776 horsepower (that’s 11 more than the concept), and gets 402 miles (CLTC) of range from its 100 kWh battery. And, while that version is a monster, even the base-level Pioneer version at just 235,900 yuan ($33,000, as I type this) offers a 76 kWh battery pack sending power to a 295 hp rear-mounted electric motor and over 600 km of range (~385 miles).
It’s a solid achievement in value and tech, and the Audi people seem pretty proud of themselves. “The AUDI E5 Sportback is our first model based on the Advanced Digitized Platform, and it delivers on our brand promise: the best of both worlds,” says Fermín Soneira, CEO of the Audi and SAIC Cooperation Project. “Audi’s DNA and engineering excellence is blended with China’s digital ecosystem and innovations, specifically tailored for our tech-savvy customers.”
And it’s pretty.
AUDI E5 Sportback
The wagon’s exterior, while not necessarily shouting “Audi” in the conventional, Western sense, is still proportioned well enough to carry the four rings (or, looked at another way, a VW logo). But, while it’s a great-looking wagon on the outside, it’s on the inside that the all-new E5 AUDI Sportback really sets itself apart.
The interior of the AUDI E5 Sportback is noticeably different from any Audi model, being much more inline with similar entry-luxe EVs sold in China. The E5 dash also sports a 59″-inch” wide screen that stretches across the entire dash, digital side mirrors, Alcantara seating surfaces, and wireless phone chargers.
All that tech is powered by the QUALCOMM Snapdragon 8295 automotive chipset with 5-nanometer precision and the ability to perform 30 billion operations per second, and the Chinese-market AUDI OS offers what its makers call, “an intuitive experience designed to make the vehicle occupants’ lives easier.”
You can take a look at the new E5 Sportback’s interior, below, then let us know whether or not you think an Audi AUDI like this (and its purple mood lighting) would be a hot seller Stateside in the comments.
E5 Sportback interior
SOURCE | IMAGES: AUDI.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
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