Climate litigations: a human right

The 9 April 2024 was a day of historic significance for climate justice, with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issuing three crucial rulings during a public hearing in Strasbourg. These rulings represented a major step forward in the fight against the climate crisis, pushing governments to take more responsibility and act more decisively to tackle this global problem. Although two of the three cases, the French and Portuguese cases, were heard and rejected by the ECHR, all of them had a significant impact, as they highlighted the urgency of addressing the climate crisis not only as an environmental issue, but also as a fundamental human rights issue.

More than 2,300 elderly women from the non-profit organisation "Elderly Women for Climate", with the support of the non-governmental organisation Greenpeace, have taken unprecedented legal action before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against their home state, Switzerland. Their lawsuit aims to challenge Swiss climate policy, arguing that the current targets and measures are not sufficient to effectively counteract global warming. The decision of these elderly women to take a stand is rooted in their awareness of the significant risks that the climate crisis poses to their health and well-being. Faced with this worrying reality, the activists decided to take action, arguing that the state has an obligation to protect their right to life and well-being, as enshrined in Articles 2 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The second case starts in Grande-Synthe, a municipality in the region of Haute-France with around 20,000 inhabitants. The former mayor, Damien Carême, has taken legal action against the French state, accusing it of failing to take all necessary measures to stay within the previously set maximum greenhouse gas levels. As in the previous case, this lack of action would constitute a violation of two articles of the European Convention on Human Rights. Article 2, which concerns the right to life, would require states to do everything possible to protect the lives of people under their jurisdiction, including preserving them from environmental disasters. With respect to Article 8, which concerns respect for one's private and family life, the violation would directly affect Carême. He claims that his own home is at risk of being damaged by future floods that will hit the area, making it impossible to make plans for the future.

The last climate lawsuit represents the largest ever undertaken to date. On the one hand, there are six young Portuguese men born between 1999 and 2012; on the other hand, as many as 32 European countries have been accused of adopting vastly inadequate climate policies. In addition to Articles 2 and 8 of the European Convention, this legal action also invokes Article 14 on the prohibition of discrimination. In particular, the young people cite heat waves, forest fires and toxic fumes emanating from them, arguing that these phenomena, exacerbated by global warming, force them to change their lifestyle habits (e.g. by spending more time indoors). These changes, they argue, threaten their physical and mental well-being. The fact that the plaintiffs are young is no coincidence, as the younger generations are set to suffer the most severe consequences of climate change, despite not having significantly contributed to triggering it.

public and private climate litigation can be seen as a means through which attempts are made to bridge the gap between environmental goals and the actions actually taken by governments and companies. public climate litigation focuses on holding public bodies accountable for adopting more ambitious and effective policies to tackle climate change, while private climate litigation seeks to hold companies accountable for their greenhouse gas emissions and their impact on the environment. Both types of legal actions aim to promote environmental sustainability and ensure that concrete measures are taken to mitigate climate change.

Climate litigation represents a frontier solution to change the dynamics of the fight against climate change. The Global Climate Litigation Report 2023 Status Review produced by UNEP shows that more and more people are turning to the courts to fight the climate crisis. Up to December 2022, 2,180 climate-related cases have been filed in 65 jurisdictions, including international and regional courts, tribunals, quasi-judicial bodies or other adjudicating bodies such as the Special Procedures at the United Nations and arbitration tribunals. This represents a steady increase from 884 cases in 2017 and 1,550 cases in 2020. Children and youth, women's groups, local communities and indigenous peoples, among others, are taking a leading role in advancing these cases and promoting reform of climate change governance in more and more countries around the world.

The report of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) demonstrates the importance of a state of environmental law in the fight against the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Access to justice enables the protection of environmental law and human rights and promotes accountability in public institutions. The report was launched last year to coincide with the anniversary of the UN General Assembly's recognition of the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, as the majority of cases brought before the courts demonstrate concrete links between human rights and climate change.