Australian court overturns ruling requiring mine approvals to consider climate harm

An Australian court on Tuesday overturned a groundbreaking ruling from last year that required the country's environment minister to consider the harm to children from climate change as part of the approval process for a coal mine.

The full Federal Court decided in favour of an appeal by Environment Minister Sussan Ley against a judge's ruling that she had a duty of care to avoid harming children when weighing approval for a coal project.

"The Court orders that: the appeal be allowed," three judges of the Federal Court ruled on Tuesday.