High-stakes climate litigation being pursued across the country and worldwide, purportedly on behalf of children, can be traced to a single, left-wing public interest law firm with big-money backing and ties to longtime progressive activists, Fox News Digital has learned. The Oregon-based firm Our Children’s Trust , which is classified as a 501 public charity, was established more than a decade ago to provide youth with legal services 'to secure their legal rights to a safe climate.
filed its complaint in Juliana v. United States in 2015, arguing that the federal government has contributed to global warming for decades, despite being well aware of the cataclysmic impacts of climate change. The lawsuit — which is currently making its way through the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals — takes aim at policies allowing fossil fuel extraction, transportation and combustion. Days before the White House rally, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.
The Amalgamated Foundation, OCT's apparent largest financier, is the charitable arm of Amalgamated Bank, an operation focused on progressive issues and which is majority-owned and controlled by Workers United, a division of the massive labor union Service Employees International Union . Under the leadership of its executive director Anna Fink, the Amalgamated Foundation spearheaded a campaign after the Jan.
Other staff and members of OCT's board of directors have ties to climate-focused organizations such as the Women’s Environmental and Development Organization, Western Environmental Law Center, Food & Water Watch and Columbia University's Earth Institute. OCT and the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation didn't respond to requests for comment.