Grata Fund

$40,000 | August 2023

What do Grata Fund do?

Grata catalyses high impact, strategic climate litigation brought by people and communities. We make high impact, potentially game-changing cases happen, like Uncle Pabai and Uncle Paul’s Australian Climate Case. We are supporting Uncle Pabai and Uncle Paul, two Traditional Owners and Native Title rights holders from the islands of Boigu and Saibai in Zenadth Kes (the Torres Strait) to sue the Australian Government for negligence. If successful, this may force the government to reduce emissions in line with the best available science.

Why is this work important?

This is the first time that anyone in Australia has challenged in court the lawfulness of the Australian Government's inaction on climate change by asserting a common law duty of care to Torres Strait Islanders. The case’s legal strategy is inspired by one of the world’s most successful test cases in history, the Urgenda case in the Netherlands, which used the law as a tool to achieve extraordinary action on climate change. The Urgenda Climate Case had a transformative impact on Dutch climate policy and is a close partner on this case.

Uncle Pabai and Uncle Paul’s Australian Climate Case has the potential to deliver similar change in Australia, helping to neutralise Australia's negative impact on global efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

How is Groundswell supporting this work?

Recent successes in climate litigation and the factually urgent need for climate action, mean that Uncle Pabai and Uncle Paul’s Australian Climate Case case is an extremely timely tool that both enhances the power of the climate movement in Australia and has the potential to create a legally binding responsibility on the Australian Government to take science-informed action to reduce catastrophic harms being caused by their contribution to climate change.

In addition to these legal strategies, Groundswell will support Grata with the following activities:

• Demonstrate that the Government’s climate targets and plan are vastly insufficient to protect the Torres Strait and other communities from catastrophic climate harm;

• Create pressure for a more ambitious plan from the Australian Government that is in line with the best available science;

• and create the political cover needed to support the Australian Government to take further action.

Grant Update

Groundswell Giving’s donation to Grata was used to support critical stages of Uncle Pabai and Uncle Paul’s Australian Climate Case (Expert Evidence in November 2023 and Closing Arguments in April/May 2024), a significant scaling up of the Australian Climate Case campaign work, and a boost in Grata’s climate justice capacity more broadly, enabling us to support four more climate cases in 2023-24.

Uncle Pabai and Uncle Paul are two Guda Maluyligal Traditional Owners and Native Title rights holders from the islands of Boigu and Saibai in Zenadth Kes (the Torres Strait). Groundswell’s support has meant that Grata could continue to work with the Uncles and their communities to support this case. The Uncles are arguing that, by failing to prevent climate change, the Federal Government has unlawfully breached their duty of care.

are working with their communities, litigation team and the broader climate movement to maximise the impact of this litigation on Australia’s approach to climate change.

The case has the potential to see extraordinary impact on climate action in Australia and abroad, including science-based emissions reduction targets and future injunctive relief to hold governments accountable to those targets.

The case is inspired by one of the world’s most successful test cases in history, the Urgenda case in the Netherlands, which used the law as a tool to achieve extraordinary action on climate change. The Urgenda Climate Case had a transformative impact for Dutch climate justice.