Europe’s top human rights court has ruled that the Swiss government had violated the human rights of its citizens by failing to do enough to combat climate change, in a decision that will set a precedent for future climate lawsuits.
The European Court of Human Rights’s ruling, in favour of the more than 2000 Swiss women who brought the case, is expected to resonate in court decisions across Europe and beyond, and to embolden more communities to bring climate cases against governments.
Swiss women demonstrate outside the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday.Credit: Jean-Francois Badias
The women who brought the case – all aged 64 and older – are known in Switzerland as KlimaSeniorinnen (climate seniors).
The women brought the case against their government in the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that government inaction over climate change put them at increased risk of dying during heatwaves.
Their gender and age, they successfully argued, made them especially vulnerable to climate change. Their win in the powerful court – the first of its kind – has galvanised the country and climate campaigners worldwide.
In her ruling, which is binding and cannot be appealed, Court President Siofra O’Leary found the Swiss government failed to comply with its own targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and had failed to set a national carbon budget.
“It is clear that future generations are likely to bear an increasingly severe burden of the consequences of present failures and omissions to combat climate change,” O’Leary said.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice, which represented the Swiss government at the court, took note of the ruling.
“Together with the authorities concerned, we will now analyse the extensive judgment and review what measures Switzerland will take in the future,” it said in a statement.
In a word: yes. Swiss President Viola Amherd came out strongly after the verdict, questioning the grounds for the ruling.
“Sustainability is very important to Switzerland, biodiversity is very important to Switzerland, [and] the net zero target is very important to Switzerland,” she said.
“We are working on those and will continue to work on them with all our strength. This ruling does nothing to change that.”
But observers suggest the ruling could compel the Swiss government to go further than its current targets to cut emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 (from 1990 levels), to get in line with the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees.
Observers of international law expect the verdict to have a global effect. The most immediate will be in the 46 countries that are signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights, where a binding legal precedent has now been set.
Grata Fund founder and executive director Isabelle Reinecke – who is supporting the first Australian climate case brought on behalf of First Nations people – says the ripple effects will extend around the world, including here.
“It sets a tone globally that has impacts in Australia as well, to say that climate action is a legal duty – it’s not just a matter of politics,” she says.
“What governments need to understand … is that there is a level of climate harm that is happening now, and it’s going to get drastically worse, even if we stay within 1.5 degrees of warming. And that harm is so terrible, and done so knowingly, that it’s just untenable for there not to be any legal accountability.”
with Reuters
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What does the Swiss climate decision mean for Australia?
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10.04.2024
Europe’s top human rights court has ruled that the Swiss government had violated the human rights of its citizens by failing to do enough to combat climate change, in a decision that will set a precedent for future climate lawsuits.
The European Court of Human Rights’s ruling, in favour of the more than 2000 Swiss women who brought the case, is expected to resonate in court decisions across Europe and beyond, and to embolden more communities to bring climate cases against governments.
Swiss women demonstrate outside the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday.Credit: Jean-Francois Badias
The women who brought the case – all aged 64 and older – are known in Switzerland as KlimaSeniorinnen (climate seniors).
The women brought the case against their government in the European Court of Human Rights, arguing that government inaction over climate change put them at increased risk of dying during........
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