In July 2020 she launched the first, and only, legal action in the world that aimed to hold a sovereign nation accountable for not disclosing the risks of climate change to sovereign bond investors.

Now, Ms O'Donnell is travelling to Goulburn to discuss the case and inspire other young people to take action.

She will be speaking at the Goulburn Workers Club at 7pm on Thursday, April 7 at a joint event organised by the Hume chapter of the Citizens' Climate Lobby and The Goulburn Group.

"It will be a truly inspiring talk and we encourage teenagers and young people to come and listen to what Katta has to say," Citizens' Climate Lobby member Ian Anderson said.

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The class action was reported by the New York Times, Financial Times, The Economist, Bloomberg, Reuters and all major Australian media outlets back in 2020.

Nearly two years later, the case is now in the 'discovery' phase, with Ms O'Donnell and the government exchanging all relevant documents for the case.

"It's quite a process, it's months of going back and forth," Ms O'Donnell said.

"It's mostly all confidential at this stage, but hopefully, we'll be able to get some documents that prove that the government does know about the risks of climate change.

"Which, I personally don't think that they couldn't know about the risks, and then we'll be able to submit them as evidence in the court case, and then they will be public knowledge."

Ms O'Donnell was originally inspired to start the legal action while studying a subject called climate law at La Trobe University.

"David Barnden came in as a guest lecturer, who is now my lawyer for the case, and I was really interested in what he had to say, so I had a chat to him after the class," she said.

"That night I went home and changed my super and bank to ones that weren't investing in fossil fuels.

"I kept in contact with David over the new few months and the case sort of just evolved out of that."

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Through the legal action, Ms O'Donnell is seeking a declaration that the Commonwealth of Australia misled and deceived investors by not disclosing climate change risks in bond issue documents and on the website of the Australian Office of Financial Management.

"I think a lot of the time the government tells the narrative that they can't do anything about the climate crisis, because it'd be bad for the economy, but doing nothing, or continuing to invest in and subsidise industries that are destructive and exploitive, is actually the biggest risk to the economy," she said.

Ms O'Donnell said this was particularly evident looking at the financial cost of the recent floods.

She hoped this case would help shift the narrative but emphasised how complicated legal proceedings can be.

The Federal Court recently overturned a ruling that the Australian government owed the country's children protection from harm caused by climate change.

"I've had to bring this case forward, one person against the government, to try and make them be honest about the risks of the climate crisis," Ms O'Donnell said.

"It had to be really narrowed down into this financial lens, and I think that's why there's not many climate cases out there.

"It is quite hard for the courts to be able to approach such a wide issue and I don't know whether I could say we're even halfway, because I don't know where the end point is.

"It's taking a long time and we really need to be acting more urgently."

Ms O'Donnell hoped that by speaking in Goulburn she would start the conversation about how we can create change, even within smaller communities.

"Not everyone can take the government to court, but I think there are things that all of us can be doing.

"Like the money side, you really need to just look at where your money is being invested," Ms O'Donnell said.

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