Strasbourg [France], April 10: Climate activists in Switzerland on Tuesday won a landmark case in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) holding that authorities had failed to adequately mitigate climate change, in a ruling which could set a precedent for similar complaints.
The court found "critical gaps in the process of putting in place the relevant domestic regulatory framework" for mitigating climate change in Switzerland. For example, Switzerland "failed to quantify, through a carbon budget or otherwise" national greenhouse gas emissions limits.
The European court in Strasbourg handed down closely watched verdicts in three climate change cases on Tuesday.
In the Swiss case, a majority of the judges held that government failures when it came to setting climate goals amounted to a violation of the right to respect for private and family life.
The state had fallen short in offering protection "from the serious adverse effects of climate change on lives, health, well-being and quality of life," an ECHR news release said.
The ruling did not entirely go the four plaintiffs' way, however. The court dismissed their claims to be the victims of the Swiss government's climate policies, even if they were deficient. The senior citizens argued that their age makes them particularly vulnerable to climate change, for example due to extreme heatwaves.
Nevertheless, the court said their association could bring a new complaint "on behalf of those individuals who could arguably claim to be subject to specific threats or adverse effects of climate change." The four plaintiffs were members of an association for older women concerned about climate change, called Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz.
The court had never before dealt with a country's CO2 emissions. Several hundred people, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, travelled to the hearing to hear the judgements.
A similar case brought by six young Portuguese nationals against Portugal and 32 other countries failed on the grounds they had not pursued legal action within the Portuguese system, and that no jurisdiction could be established in the other 32 states.
The Portuguese plaintiffs argued that because of their young ages, "the interference with their rights was more marked than in the case of previous generations." A third lawsuit against France, brought by a French mayor, over failure to prevent global warming was dismissed because the plaintiff did not qualify as a victim.
The ECHR is a court of the Council of Europe, which has 46 member states. It is not affiliated to the European Union.
Source: Qatar Tribune