It has not been the expected decision, but it is unprecedented. For the first time, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled on the lack of action by state authorities against global warming. Specifically, it has done so due to Switzerland's inaction and failure to meet its own greenhouse emissions reduction targets. By 16 votes and only 1 against, the European court has ruled that Switzerland “has violated the article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights». Furthermore, and unanimously, the Swiss state is condemned for failing to comply with article 6 which enshrines the right to a fair judicial process. But what implications does it have?
The first is that this decision “sets a historical precedent,” celebrates Gerry Liston, lawyer at Global Legal Action Network. However, it does not entail any sanction for the Central European country. “Although it means that all European countries must urgently review their targets so that they are science-based and in line with 1.5 degrees,” he warns. In this sense, Irene Rubiera, a lawyer for Ecologistas en Acción, differs: “It is not a direct obligation, but it gives us a very good reference to demand greater ambition from the states.”
The Spanish lawyer remembers that this ruling will not “be applied as it is known, but it does endorse the relationship between climate change and Human Rights and opens the possibility of appealing to the ECtHR in cases that have been rejected in national courts.”
“The ramifications of this ruling extend globally and constitute a crucial reference point for courts around the world”
Joana Setzer
Associate Professor at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Environment Research
However, “the ruling directly influences the European States bound by the Convention, its ramifications extend globally and constitutes a crucial point of reference for courts around the world when interpreting the obligations of States in this matter.” of human rights in relation to climate action,” he adds. Joana Setzer, associate professor at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and Environment Research.
Climate litigation surge
In recent years, cases related to climate change have accumulated in the offices of lawyers and magistrates. “Since 2018, we have had a wave of climate litigation throughout Europe,” adds Rubiera. But it is not only in the Old Continent, climate trials transcend national borders and have reached international levels.
According to the database of Sabin Center for Climate Change Law There are 2,622 climate litigations registered, of which 1,746 are only in the United States. There are also relevant cases in China, Finland, Romania, Bulgaria, Türkiye or Russia.
«Since 2018, we have had a wave of climate litigation throughout Europe»
Irene Rubiera
Lawyer for Ecologists in Action
But in Spain this type of litigation has not prospered. The first case, presented in 2020 by Greenpeace, Ecologistas en Acción and Oxfam Intermón, fell last year after rejection by the Supreme Court. The High Court considered that our country's reduction objectives were in line with community objectives, an opinion that environmentalists reject.
In Spain, the first climate litigation case, presented in 2020 by Greenpeace, Ecologistas en Acción and Oxfam Intermón, failed when the Supreme Court rejected it last year. The court considered that our country's reduction objectives, which environmentalists saw as insufficient, were in line with those of the EU. “With this ruling, the option of appealing to the European Court of Human Rights opens up, which has a stronger doctrine, more protective of human rights and more guarantees for people and the planet,” explains Rubiera.
The Strasbourg decision is one more of the judicial decisions expected in the coming months and years. The International Court of Justice, the International Court of the Law of the Sea, the Inter-American Human Rights System are evaluating the obligations of countries in relation to the climate crisis and it is expected that their opinions will mark what obligations States have in matters of the environment and protection of human rights.
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