Author: Liz Stanton, PhD
July 2025
Principal Economist Elizabeth A. Stanton led AEC Staff in drafting an amicus curiae brief submitted on appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California, No. 2:23-cv-10345, in the case of Genesis B. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Genesis plaintiffs (a group of 18 youths) argued that the EPA violated their right to equal protection of the law through discriminatory discounting of children’s lives when making environmental decisions.
In the brief, the amici curiae contend that discounting practices used by the EPA are detrimental to children and future generations, and that the dismissal of the case “reflects fundamental misunderstandings of the economics of discounting.” The Plaintiffs’ amended complaint challenged the EPA’s policy of positive social discounting, which privileges current adults while giving less weight to today’s children that will be affected by the harms of today’s environmental policies in the future. The brief concludes that the EPA’s current analyses do not give full weight to the long-term benefits of pollution reduction policies enacted now and advises the Court to reverse the District Court’s dismissal.
Signatories to the amicus curiae brief: Dr. Elizabeth A. Stanton, Dr. Eban Goodstein, Dr. Robin Hahnel, Dr. James K. Boyce, Dr. Gerald Epstein, Dr. Michael Ash, Dr. Bryndís Woods, Dr. Jordan Burt, and Dr. Tanya Stasio.