European Court of Justice ruling on climate change lawsuits of Switzerland, Portugal and France

Tuesday’s hearing on three cases at the European Court of Human Rights The first international court to issue a judgment These examples of climate inaction come as advocacy groups and lawmakers around the world seek to push governments through legislation to take stronger action on climate change.

court sided We worked with the Swiss Senior Women’s Group for Climate Protection (also known as KlimaSeniorinnen), which is made up of over 2,000 senior women. Their complaint states that the government’s failure to reduce the effects of global warming has harmed their living conditions and health.

The ruling said Switzerland has not been able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to meet its own goals. The European Convention on Human Rights “encompasses the right to effective protection” by national authorities “from the serious adverse effects of climate change on life, health, well-being and quality of life,” it said.

The European Court of Human Rights, based in Strasbourg, France, is part of the Council of Europe, a 46-member international body separate from the European Union. Courts make binding decisions, but governments do not always comply.

Still, Tuesday’s ruling shows that governments can be held accountable in court for climate-related issues and could have implications for similar cases around the world.

“We hope this judgment will have an impact on climate action and climate litigation across Europe and beyond,” said Joye Chaudhry, senior lawyer at the International Environmental Law Center. This judgment states that “the climate crisis is a human rights crisis; [countries] There is a human rights obligation to act urgently and effectively. ”

Two other lawsuits accusing European governments of not doing enough to prevent climate change, one by a former mayor in northern France and the other by a youth group in Portugal, are unacceptable. It was rejected as.

In the French case, the court said the former mayor had “no connection” to the town where he once lived, Grand Sinte, and had emigrated from France. In the Portugal case, the court ruled that the youth group had not pursued the legal avenues available domestically and that “jurisdiction could not be established for other European countries that the group had sought to include in the case.” ” he said.

Lawyers are hoping for decisive victories in all three cases in Strasbourg courts, which will send ripples across the continent and send a clear message that governments must keep their climate pledges. It has the potential to set a precedent.

In a high-profile lawsuit brought by six young Portuguese men born between 1999 and 2012, the suit alleges that current and future impacts of climate change, such as heat waves and wildfires, are putting them at risk. insisted. They accused Portugal and 32 other countries of failing to meet emissions reduction targets set under the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

The Swiss Women’s Association, whose average member age is 73 years old, argued that Switzerland’s demographics were the most vulnerable to climate change, especially heatwaves. A study published last year covering Europe’s scorching summer of 2022 found more than 61,000 heat-related deaths. Approximately 63 percent of the deaths were women. The majority of those people were elderly.

The Swiss women said Switzerland has taken “inadequate” steps to mitigate climate change, arguing that this violates several human rights principles, including the right to life.

“The world has never seen a threat to human rights of this magnitude posed by climate change,” Jessica Simour, a lawyer representing the women, told the court last year.

Independent research group Climate Action Tracker says Switzerland’s climate-related policies and actions are “insufficient” and says the country is using bilateral carbon offset agreements to offset some of its domestic emissions. He pointed out that he was doing it. Like many other countries, the country has pledged to reach net zero by 2050. Alain Chabre, a lawyer representing Switzerland, told the court last year that the country is “constantly raising the bar of its goals”.

After the verdict, the Swiss Federal Attorney’s Office, which represents the country in the human rights court, said the verdict was “final”.

“The overall decision will be analyzed with the relevant authorities and future measures taken by Switzerland will be considered.”

Elizabeth Stern, director of the Swiss Association of Senior Women in Climate Protection, said the feeling was “unbelievable” after years of work.

“It took a while for the pen to drop,” she said from Strasbourg, where she was watching the hearing.

“The younger generation will benefit from whatever improvements the Swiss government will accelerate in terms of climate policy,” she said. “I’m 76 years old now, and I hope the next generation can benefit from what we did today.”