The Federal Court case was allegedly instigated by eight teenage students who were concerned about the long-term climate effects of allowing Whitehaven Coal to extend its Vickery coal project in New South Wales.

Federal Court Justice Mordecai Bromberg said 1 million Australian children would be hospitalised at least once in their life for heat stress if global warming increased.

"The nature of the risk of harm that the minister must take reasonable care to avoid is personal injury or death to the children arising from the emission of carbon dioxide from the burning of coal extracted from the extension project," Bromberg said.

The court made a declaration that the environment minister had a duty to take reasonable care to avoid causing personal injury or death to Australian children when exercising their powers to approve the Vickery extension project under national environment law.

Federal environment minister Sussan Ley is appealing the decision, however, it is scandalous that a project that received all government approvals should be stymied by a lawfare-media campaign that purports to protect children.      

Whitehaven is seeking consent to increase the approved Vickery coal project to operate an up to 10 million tonnes per annum open cut metallurgical and thermal coal mine, with onsite processing and rail infrastructure.

On August 12 the NSW Independent Planning Commission approved the $607 million project.

If the situation is as dire as Bromberg et al claim, governments would also be accountable for damaging the health of children by allowing jet aircraft, petrol and diesel motor vehicles, forest clearing, and other industrial emission creating activities.

One of the eight students, Ava Princi (17), said she understood it was the first time a court of law anywhere in the world had ordered a government to specifically protect young people from the catastrophic harms of climate change.

"My future - and the future of all young people - depends on Australia joining the world in taking decisive climate action," she said.

What about the poor children living in developing economies who don't have any access to electricity? What about their health and wellbeing?

In its Net Zero by 2050 report, the International Energy Agency states providing electricity to about 785 million people with no access to it and clean cooking solutions to 2.6 billion people who lack them is an integral part of its Roadmap's net zero pathway.

"This costs around $40 billion a year, equal to around 1% of average annual energy sector investment," it states.

"It also brings major health benefits through reductions in indoor air pollution, cutting the number of premature deaths by 2.5 million a year."

Let there be no mistake - there is big money behind these anti-coal campaigns.

The eight teenagers are a convenient front for a global anti-coal agenda that is using hysterical media headlines to fuel a switch to renewables.

The legal team representing the eight students is an outfit called Equity Generation Lawyers.

It describes itself on its website as specialists in Australian climate change law.

"We combine expertise in climate change risk and a flair for innovative legal action that has international reach," it states.

"We are experts in understanding the physical and transition impacts of climate change on investors, governments, people and the environment."

Notice above that the impact on the "environment" is the last thing Equity Generation Lawyers claims it understands and "investors" is the first thing. 

In pure economics terms, the renewables industry has become a big business that is eager to gain market share from the fossil fuel industry.

Some estimates have renewables growing by billion dollar multiples this decade.

The renewables lobby cannot reveal its profit-driven strategy to the general public so it uses clever media and legal stunts to hide their true intent and coerce governments to buckle.         

Hogsback reckons the world is succumbing to an anti-coal hysteria being orchestrated by commercial interests who stand to make increasingly growing profits by hastening the demise of the coal industry.