KlimaSeniorinnen grab victory in landmark climate case at European Court of Human Rights
In a decision strongly expected to set a precedent for future climate legal cases, the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday ruled that the Government of Switzerland had violated its citizens’ human rights by failing to do enough to combat climate change.
The landmark ruling, in favour of more than 2,000 KlimaSeniorinnen, is likely to impact court decisions across Europe and beyond, and to encourage several more communities across the globe to bring climate cases against their governments.
The scores of Swiss women who brought the case to the court said their government’s climate inaction has put them at risk of dying during high temperatures. They argued that their gender and age (over 64) made them particularly susceptible to such climate change impacts.
Swiss government failing to address its climate targets
In her ruling, Court President Siofra O’Leary said: “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,” according to Reuters agency.
O’Leary raised concerns over the Swiss government failing to address its targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and setting a national carbon budget. The Swiss Federal Office of Justice, that represented the government, is taking note of the ruling.
The landmark decision has come against a backdrop of a deepening climate crisis troubling billions of lives globally. The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service has regularly been posting updates on temperature surges on the planet.
Is a permanent breach of 1.5 degrees limit possible?
CCCS noted on Tuesday that the international community experienced the hottest March ever due to a combined effect of El Nino and climate change, making it the tenth consecutive month since June 2023 to set a fresh temperature record.
In addition, the prominent body also noted that the global average temperature for the past 12 months (April 2023 – March 2024) is the highest on record. It is 1.58 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average and 0.70 degrees above the 1991-2020 average.
The global average temperature breached the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold – set by the 2015 Paris Agreement – for an entire year for the first time in January. But a permanent breach of the limit refers to long-term surges in temperature over several years.
