This case was the first opportunity for the court to consider the duties of states in the context of climate change, and the first climate change case to be heard by an international human rights court. The decision will have a ripple effect across Europe and beyond, as it sets a binding precedent for how courts should deal with the rising tide of litigation in which it is argued that the climate crisis involves human rights violations.
The court held that the European convention requires states to seek to be carbon neutral within three decades, and take adequate interim measures to achieve this. Switzerland was failing to do so.
Those who took the case are the KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz, a group of 2,400 Swiss women over age 64, who argued that because older women are more likely to die in heatwaves Switzerland must take greater action to prevent the planet heating beyond the Paris agreement target of 1.5°C. Heatwaves, the KlimaSeniorinnen argued, have become hotter and more common because of fossil fuels.
by Aoife Daly
12/04/2024