ECHR decisions
Climate lawsuits: seniors successful, young people not
April 9, 2024, 12:21 p.m
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In Germany, activists were successful in 2021 with a constitutional complaint for more climate protection. Now young and old are suing the European Court of Human Rights for the first time. One group is successful, but the other group fails. The ruling could become a precedent.
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has dismissed lawsuits from six Portuguese teenagers and a French mayor who sought to force their countries to take stronger climate action. At the same time, the court ruled in favor of a group of senior citizens from Switzerland who had also called for measures to comply with international climate protection obligations.
Lawyers for all three plaintiffs had hoped that the ECHR would find that national governments have a legal obligation, as agreed in the Paris climate agreement, to ensure that global warming is limited to as little as 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. But Judge Siofra O’Leary, president of the European Court of Human Rights, delivered different rulings.
In addition to the young people from Portugal and the French mayor, more than 2,000 members of the ClimateSeniors Switzerland group had sued, saying their government was not doing enough to combat climate change. The seniors said that the rights of older women are particularly violated because they are most affected by the extreme heat that is becoming more common due to global warming. This would affect their right to private and family life and their right to a fair trial.
ECHR decision could have a signaling effect
The ruling itself initially only binds Switzerland, but it has a major signaling effect. Because: The ECHR, based in Strasbourg, France, is part of the Council of Europe and is responsible for compliance with the Human Rights Convention. The Council of Europe includes the EU states, but also other large countries such as Turkey and Great Britain. The ruling could now become a precedent for further climate lawsuits not only before the ECHR, but also before countless national courts.
The case of the climate seniors was the first climate lawsuit ever to be heard by the Grand Chamber of the ECtHR. The association of Swiss pensioners was initiated and supported by Greenpeace. According to Greenpeace, the association has over 2,500 members throughout Switzerland with an average age of 73 years.
However, the lawsuits filed by a French mayor against his home country and by Portuguese young people against 32 European countries were dismissed. According to the judges, the French politician lacks the so-called victim status, meaning that he is particularly affected. Among other things, the young people would have first had to go through the courts in Portugal before appealing to the court in Strasbourg. Sofia Oliveira, one of the young plaintiffs, said after the verdict that she was of course disappointed, but the victory of the climate seniors meant a victory for all of them.
The decision was eagerly awaited. The ECHR has previously dealt with environmental emissions – such as noise or air pollution – but never with a country’s CO2 emissions. Several hundred people traveled to the verdict, including the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Activists have already been successful with similar lawsuits at the national level, but this was the first time that an international court made a ruling on the fight against climate change.