Climate change: Six young people take 32 European countries to court in landmark case

Six young people from areas in Portugal ravaged by wildfires and heatwaves will on Wednesday take 32 European governments to court over what they see as climate inaction, arguing countries’ failure to cut emissions fast enough is a violation of their human rights.

The case – filed in September 2020 against the 27 EU member states as well Britain, Switzerland, Norway, Russia and Turkey – is the largest climate case to be heard by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg.

With the support of the Galway-based Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), the Portuguese applicants, aged between 11 and 24, are seeking a legally binding decision that would force states to act.

A ruling in the case is expected in the first half of 2024. If the complaint is upheld, it could result in orders from national courts for governments to cut carbon dioxide emissions blamed for climate change faster than currently planned.

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Gerry Liston, one of GLAN's lawyers, said that if the case was successful it would be up to national courts to enforce the rulings and that they would be provided with a roadmap to ensure enforcement was effective.

Applicants will argue climate change threatens their rights including to life, physical and mental wellbeing.

[ European court clears way for landmark climate case ]

One of the six, Andre Oliveira (15), previously told Reuters their goal was to force governments to “do what they promised they would do”, referring to the 2015 Paris Agreement to cut emissions to limit global warming to 2 degrees and ideally 1.5 degrees. Current policies would fail to meet either goal, according to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

“Without urgent action to cut emissions, (the place) where I live will soon become an unbearable furnace,” another applicant, Martim Agostinho (20), said in a statement.

Mr Agostinho and three other applicants are from the central Portuguese region of Leiria, where two wildfires killed more than 100 people in 2017.

More than 80 lawyers are expected in court to represent the accused countries, while the applicants will be represented by six lawyers, resulting in what GLAN described in a statement as a hearing “unprecedented in scale”.

Mr Liston acknowledged “taking on the legal teams of over 30 very well-resourced countries” would not be easy.

Portugal's legal team has submitted to the court that it was committed to fight climate change and the applicants had failed to provide evidence of its direct impact on them.

Britain argued the case should be rejected because it was “inadmissible” for various reasons, including jurisdiction.

Climate litigation occurring in Europe and beyond is growing.

Last month, a judge in Montana, in the United States, handed a historic win to young plaintiffs in a climate change case. In addition to Wednesday’s youth case, there are two other climate cases pending before the ECHR’s Grand Chamber. – Reuters

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