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2024 Children and young people Children's rights/best interests Committee on the Rights of the Child Finland Indigenous peoples rights Indigenous peoples' rights Just transition litigation Minority rights Non-discrimination Participation rights Participation rights Renewable energy Right to culture Right to health Standing/admissibility Uncategorized

M. E. V., S. E. V. and B. I. V. v. Finland

Summary:

On 13 September 2024, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) adopted views in the communication M. E. V., S. E. V. and B. I. V. v. Finland. The communication concerned the granting of a mineral exploration permit on the traditional territory of the Sámi people without previous impact assessment (EIA) or free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). The authors of the communication were three sisters, all minors (aged 13, 15 and 16) at the time of filing. They submitted that their rights under articles 8 (right to preservation of identity), 27 (adequate standard of living) and 30 (minority rights) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), interpreted in light of article 24 (right to health) and all read alone and in conjunction with article 2.1 (non-discrimination), were violated by Finland in permitting a mineral exploration project on their traditional territory without proper EIA and without obtaining the FPIC of their community. They requested interim measures to stop the exploration activity.

The communication concerned the “Lätäs 1” mineral exploration permit sought by a Finnish government agency in 2014, requesting permission to explore deposits of gold, copper and iron by drilling 100 to 300 meter deep holes into the bedrock in 20 locations in the authors’ traditional reindeer herding territory.

The authors argued that “in a situation where the sustainability and transmission to new generations of Sámi reindeer herding culture is already under threat”, given the cumulative impact of past interventions in their territory, as aggravated by climate change, any new intervention violated their right, as Indigenous children, individually and in community with each other and other Sámi, not be denied the right to enjoy their own culture under article 30 CRC.

The authors noted also that: “Finland’s CO2 emissions put it on place 57 among all countries in absolute terms, and 29 per capita, as responsible for climate change, is an argument of why the mineral exploration project object of the current communication violates the Convention in the current circumstances created by climate change. While the authors understand that mitigating climate change requires replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy, they fear that badly chosen forms of such transition may have serious impact on their culture if the transition entails mining (to get battery minerals for electric cars and solar panel systems) and windmill parks in the Sámi territory which already is subject to other great pressures”.

Views of the UNCRC:

The UNCRC, in its Views on the communication, engaged with the State’s objection that the climate aspects of the case had not been raised in the domestic proceedings, whereby the authors had argued that their climate-related claims were raised “only to substantiate their claims on articles 8, 27 and 30 of the Convention, and
not to present a separate claim based on climate change.” The UNCRC accordingly found that all available domestic remedies had been exhausted (para. 8.4).

Although the Committee ‘noted’ the authors’ claim concerning the difficulties of transmission of Sámi herding culture created by climate change and other threats, it did not further engage with these claims in the remainder of its Views, which ultimately found that:

9.24 (…) to ignore the right of Indigenous peoples to use and enjoy land rights and to refrain from taking appropriate measures to ensure respect in practice for their right to offer free, prior and informed consent whenever their rights may be affected by projects carried out in their traditional territories, constitutes a form of discrimination, as it results in nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by Indigenous peoples, on an equal footing, of their rights to their ancestral territories, natural resources and, as a result, their identity. The Committee moreover considers that the discrimination suffered by an Indigenous people also impacts their children, whose
preservation of cultural identity is crucial as they represent the continuity of their distinct people.

(…)

9.25 The Committee therefore concludes that the information before it reveals that the granting of the exploration permits without having ensured the effective participation of the authors in a consultation process based on a prior impact assessment of the exploration works on the consequences for Sámi reindeer herding, amounted to violations of the authors’ rights under articles 8, 27 and 30, read in conjunction with article 2.1 of the Convention.

Views:

CRC-C-97-D-172-2022_E_UVDownload

Commentary on the case:

Counsel for the applicants has written about this case that, based on this and other Indigenous rights cases, they “anticipate new cases by the Sámi and other Indigenous peoples concerning states’ positive obligation to undertake positive measures and to treat Indigenous peoples differently from the mainstream population, including when the preservation and transmission to new generations of their distinctive cultures and livelihoods so require in the challenging times of climate change.”

Suggested citation:

UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, M. E. V., S. E. V. and B. I. V. v. Finland, CRC/C/97/D/172/2022, Views of 13 September 2024.

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Uncategorized

Constitutionality of Article 3(1) of the Climate Protection Act (Hungary), Decision No. II/3536/2021

Summary:

50 members of the parliament petitioned the Hungarian Constitutional Court to declare several provisions of the Climate Protection Act XLIV of 2020 as unconstitutional. They argued that the Act was not in conformity with the following provisions of the Fundamental Law of Hungary: Article P(1) containing the obligation of the state and everyone to protect, maintain land, and preserve for future generations, Hungary’s forests and the reserves of water; biodiversity; and cultural artefacts; Article Q(2) containing the obligation to ensure that Hungarian law is in conformity with international law; Article B(1) the obligation to conform to the requirements of rule of law, and the fundamental rights to life, physical health and well-being, legal protection for homes under Articles II, XX and XXI(1) respectively.  

In its plenary session on 13 May 2025, the Constitutional Court announced its decision on the case. It held that Section 3(1) of the Climate Protection Act, establishing a 40% emission reduction target to be achieved by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels), was unconstitutional and repealed with effect from 30 June 2026. In its reasoning, the Court invoked the principles of non-regression, precaution and prevention as bases for interpreting obligations under Articles P(1), XX(1) and XXI(1) of the Fundamental Law which required the state to continuously improve the level of protection in light of the latest developments in climate science and technology. It characterized the maintenance of the 40% target as a failure to update the state’s mitigation commitments in light of ‘events’ which had rendered it outdated. Further, it found that the Climate Protection Act only contained emissions reduction obligations, and did not address the creation of emissions sinks and adoption of adaptation measures, which are of equal importance in ensuring the effectiveness of the legal framework for protection against climate-related risks.

The Constitutional Court also found that the lack of mechanisms for ensuring accountability for the achievement of the target prescribed in Article 3(1) of the Climate Protection Act, to be a reason as to why the provision formally ran afoul of Article B(1) (rule of law) and in terms of content, led to a violation of Articles P(1), XX(1) and XXI(1) of the Fundamental Law.

The Court thus ordered the National Assembly to adopt a comprehensive regulation on Hungary’s climate mitigation commitment as well as adaptation measures tailored to Hungary’s circumstances by 30 June 2026.

Status:

The decision is final.

Suggested Citation:

Constitutional Court of Hungary, Constitutionality of Article 3(1) of the Climate Protection Act (Hungary), Decision No. II/3536/2021, 13 May 2025.

Links:

Unofficial version of the decision of the Hungarian Constitutional Court (in Hungarian) can be found here.

Last updated: 12 March 2026

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Uncategorized

Klimatická žaloba ČR et al. v. Czechia

Summary:

On 2 February 2026, the Czech NGO Klimatická žaloba ČR submitted an application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) alleging violations of Articles 8, 6 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by the Czech government in light of its climate mitigation policy.  The application follows up on domestic proceedings in the Klimatická žaloba ČR, z.s. and Others v. Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Agriculture, and Ministry of Transport, Czech Republic case, which was dismissed by the Czech Constitutional Court in 2025, and draws on the ECtHR’s earlier KlimaSeniorinnen judgment.

The applicants argue that Czechia has failed to create a fair 1.5°C national carbon budget, has not adopted a net zero commitment, and has not established binding climate mitigation targets or measures or interim targets to that effect. They accordingly allege violations of Article 8 ECHR, the right to respect for private and family life, as well as the right to a fair trial (Article 6 ECHR) and the right to an effective remedy (Article 13 ECHR), alleging the absence of effective judicial review.

The contested domestic legal framework:

In their application, the applicants argue that the current legal framework, as enshrine din the 2017 Climate Protection Policy:

“[E]nvisages reducing emissions to approximately 102.3 Mt CO₂eq by 2030 (a 48% reduction compared to 1990) and even 39 Mt CO₂eq by 2050. An evaluation carried out by the Ministry of the Environment in 2021 concluded that these targets are insufficient and do not even correspond to the EU’s climate targets at that time.
The draft update to the Czech Republic’s Climate Protection Policy, submitted to the government on July 17, 2024, was not adopted. In its Resolution No. 960 of December 18, 2024, the government even revoked the Minister of the Environment’s mandate to submit this update. In October 2025, the update was approved only as a non-binding departmental strategy of the Ministry of the Environment. Even this departmental strategy does not contain a commitment to achieve climate neutrality, only an ambition to “move towards” climate neutrality, which is also conditional on favorable socio-economic developments. The departmental strategy does not contain a target for 2040 and sets a target of reducing emissions by only 55% by 2030, although the underlying modeling showed the possibility of a reduction of up to 68%. The Czech Republic does not have climate targets enshrined in law – the current Climate Protection Policy (2017) is only a government resolution without legal binding force. The Czech Republic does not have a framework climate law, has not set a binding national carbon budget, has not set interim emission reduction targets, nor has it set a target year for achieving climate neutrality.” (translation from the original Czech by ClimateRightsDatabase).

The application to the ECtHR, as shared by the applicants, is available for download below.

Cover_letter-mergedDownload

Suggested citation:
ECtHR, Klimatická žaloba ČR et al. v. Czechia, application submitted on 2 February 2026 (not yet communicated).

Last updated:
12 March 2026.

Categories
2026 Children and young people Domestic court Emissions reductions/mitigation European Convention on Human Rights Non-discrimination Right to health Right to life Standing/admissibility Sweden Uncategorized

Aurora v. Sweden (Aurora Case II)

Summary

On 6 February 2026, the youth-led association Aurora launched a climate lawsuit before the Nacka District Court against the government of Sweden alleging a violation of their rights to life, health and well-being as well as the prohibition of discrimination (based on age). The case is a follow-up to Anton Folley and Others v. Sweden (Aurora Case). That case was a class action suit brought by over 600 young individuals (supported by Aurora), which the Supreme Court of Sweden dismissed as inadmissible on the ground that the plaintiffs did not meet the high threshold for individual victim status articulated by the European Court of Human Rights in the Verein KlimaSeniorinnen et al. v. Switzerland judgment.

Relying upon the criteria for ‘victim status’ and the standing of associations to litigate climate cases laid down in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen, Aurora argues that this fresh case is admissible and that the district court may proceed to examining the substantive claims.

Claims:

The substantive claims in Aurora II are largely the same as the claims which were made in the Aurora case, with the new petition drawing upon more recent climate jurisprudence, including the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change to support its case. In the petition, Aurora identifies a lack of measures or intermediate emission reduction targets envisaged for the period after 2030, and problematizes Sweden’s emissions debt (i.e. the exceedance of its national fair share of the global carbon budget) as failures to exercise due diligence in the discharge of positive obligation to protect individuals who Aurora represents from serious threats to the enjoyment of their rights. The petition also invokes the findings of the IPCC to argue that children and youth, who Aurora represents (majority born between 1998 and 2026), are at a particular risk from climate change, in order to demonstrate the disparate impact of Sweden’s failure to effectively contribute towards climate mitigation. The petition requests the court to handle the case with urgency, to declare violations of Articles 2, 8 and 14 and an order the government to pay legal costs incurred by the plaintiffs.

Response from the State

In June 2026, the Swedish government responded to the case. It agreed that the Aurora case should be heard on its merits, but argued that Sweden action on climate change is already sufficient to protect human rights. This means that the case will now move to examination by the district court, which will determine whether Sweden’s overall climate efforts are sufficient to protect human rights from the effects of the climate crisis.

The State’s submissions (in Swedish) can be downloaded below.

Statens svaromålDownload

Links

  • For the petition (in Swedish) filed by Aurora, see here.
  • For the press release by Aurora announcing the case, see here.

Status

Pending

Suggested citation

Nacka District Court, Aurora v. Sweden, filed on 6 February 2026 (pending).

Last updated

2 July 2026.

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Notre Affaire à Tous and Kimbé Rèd F.W.I. v. France

Summary:
On 10 December 2025, the NGO Notre Affaire à Tous announced a new collective complaint filed before the European Committee of Social Rights on behalf of residents of France’s overseas territories, challenging their exclusion from the protections of the European Social Charter. Together with the Caribbean association Kimbé Rèd F.W.I., a member of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the NGO reportedly filed a preliminary claim for compensation for damage and the denial of human rights remedies. They contest the exclusion of the residents of these territories from the protection of their human rights to work, education, housing, healthcare, clean water and a healthy environment.

More information on this case, and the extent to which the environmental rights concerned relate to climate change, has not been made public. Notably, however, the European Committee of Social Rights has recognized in the past that Article 11 of the European Social Charter (the right to health) includes a right to a healthy environment (Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights (MFHR) v. Greece, Collective Complaint No. 30/2005, 6 December 2006).

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Uncategorized

Fliegenschnee and Others v. Austria

Summary:
Fliegenschnee and Others v. Austria concerns an application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) by three Austrian nationals (Peter Fliegenschnee, Klara Kornelia Butz and Monika Jasansksy) and the environmental organisation Global 2000. After the Austrian authorities refused to issue a phased ban on the sale of fossil fuels from 2025 (2040 for aviation), which the applicants had requested under the Austrian Trade Act to mitigate the effects of climate change, the applicants turned to the ECtHR. They argued that the State’s inaction leaves them exposed to increasingly severe climate impacts such as heatwaves, drought, and environmental degradation. The association applicant, recognised under Austrian law as an environmental organisation, also asserted that it represented the interests of the general public, which it claimed were harmed by the State’s failure to act. On 11 December 2025, the ECtHR published a decision declaring the application inadmissible for lack of victim status, standing and substantiation.

Claim:
Before the ECtHR, the applicants argued that Austria’s refusal to introduce a fossil-fuel ban violated Article 2 (right to life) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life), because climate change poses real and foreseeable risks to their health, safety, and living conditions. They contended that by declining to adopt effective mitigation measures despite having the capacity to do so, the State breached its positive obligations under the Convention. The environmental association added that this refusal also harmed the public interest, which it is entitled to represent, because ineffective climate action endangers society as a whole. One applicant, a farmer, claimed an additional violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the ECHR, arguing that drought linked to climate change threatened her crops and thus her right to property.

Domestic decisions:
Domestically, the Minister held that the requested fossil-fuel ban fell outside the Minister’s statutory authority and that such sweeping climate-policy decisions must be taken at the legislative or governmental level. The refusal was upheld by domestic courts

On 25 April 2022 the Vienna Regional Administrative Court upheld the Federal Minister’s decision, confirming that she lacked the competence to order the requested measure and holding that the applicants did not have an individual right to such a measure. On 10 June 2022, the applicants lodged a complaint with the Constitutional Court, which rejected their complaint on 27 June 2023 (E 1517/2022-14), confirming that neither EU law, nor the ECHR, nor Austria’s Trade Act granted the applicants a right to an ordinance banning fossil fuels.

Decision of the European Court of Human Rights:
The applicants brought their case to the ECtHR, asserting that Austria’s inaction amounts to a breach of its human-rights obligations under the ECHR. On 11 December 2025, the ECtHR published its unanimous decision in this case, which was taken on 18 November 2025 by the Fourth Section of the Court. The decision declared the case inadmissible on grounds of victim status.

The Court held, regarding the applicants’ complaints under Articles 2 and 8 ECHR, that there needed to be “a serious, genuine and sufficiently ascertainable threat to life” in order for Article 2 to apply and for individual applicants to meet the especially strict victim status criteria for climate change mitigation cases (KlimaSeniorinnen, § 488). Considering it “questionable” whether Article 2 applied here, the Court examined the case under Article 8 ECHR alone.

For the individual applicants, the Court noted that they had not provided details about whether and how they had been personally affected, nor evidence to substantiate their alleged health vulnerabilities. They had thus not met the KlimaSeniorinnen victim status test, and their claims were declared inadmissible. The Court did not accept the argument from the 28-year-old second applicant that her health was endangered because of her young age and her thus lengthy exposure to the effects of climate change in the future, nor arguments linked to the first applicant’s heart condition.

As concerned the fourth applicant, an environmental association incorporated under Austrian law, the Court found that (applying the KlimaSeniorinnen test for representative standing of associations) “in principle, this recognition under Austrian domestic law is sufficient to show that the fourth applicant is lawfully established within that jurisdiction and has standing to act there, and that it pursues a dedicated purpose, based on its statutes, for the protection of the environment”. However, the Court doubted whether it met the final criteria of that test, which require associations who bring representative climate claims to have “a dedicated purpose in the defence of human rights in the context of the protection of the environment” and to represent affected individuals in that jurisdiction. The Court held that this was “unclear as no detailed information on its membership nor its statutes have been submitted”. It left this issue open, however, as the case would have in any case been inadmissible for the following reasons.

  • Article 8 ECHR does not grant a right to the measure sought, namely a ban on the sale of fossil fuels. The Court here considered it “inherent in the principle of subsidiarity and the wide margin of appreciation accorded to States with respect to the choice of means to achieve their climate change goals (…) that Article 8 cannot be read to guarantee a right to a particular mitigation measure by a specific State body under a certain sectoral law of an applicant’s choice” (para. 33).
  • Secondly, the Court considered that the applicants had insufficiently substantiated how Austria had failed to devise an adequate regulatory framework. Despite government admissions that current measures would not allow Austria to comply with its own GHG emissions reduction targets by 2030, the Court considered this argumentation insufficient as a base for its assessment, and noted that no domestic remedies had been used other than requesting a measure from the Federal Ministry. The applicants had also not alleged a lack of appropriate remedies.

The Court also engaged with the third applicant’s complaints under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, the right to property. As a farmer, she argued that her property had been endangered because of droughts caused by climate change. Here, the Court noted that “it has so far not applied Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 in the context of climate change and that its applicability does not follow from the current case-law” (para. 37). The Court held that “even if Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 were applicable in the context of climate change”, the third applicant would have lacked victim status.

Suggested case citation:
ECtHR, Fliegenschnee and Others v Austria App no 40054/23, decision of 18 November 2025.

Case documents:

  • The decision of the Court is available here.
  • The Court’s press release (summary) is available here.
Categories
Domestic court Emissions reductions/mitigation European Convention on Human Rights Fair trial Farming Just transition litigation Paris Agreement Private and family life Right to development and work Right to health Right to life Right to property Separation of powers Standing/admissibility Switzerland Uncategorized Victim status Vulnerability

Uniterre et al. v. Swiss Department of the Environment (Swiss Farmers Case)

Summary:
On 5 March 2024, a group of nine individual Swiss farmers, along with 5 associations representing farming-related interests, submitted a request to the Swiss Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (DETEC), demanding enhanced governmental action to protect them against the impacts of climate change. Noting increasing summer drought periods that particularly impact their human and constitutional rights and livelihoods, they alleged inadequacies in the existing Swiss climate policy response. In doing so, they submitted that:

As farmers and as associations defending the interests of farmers, the Petitioners and Petitioner Associations are particularly affected by climate change, which infringes their fundamental rights. It affects their harvests and jeopardizes the viability of their farms. Climate disruption has been encouraged by the Authority’s climate inaction. This serious negligence on the part of the Authority now justifies the filing of the present petition (translated from the original French).

Response by DETEC:
On 20 September 2024, DETEC rejected the petitioners’ request, finding that the alleged omissions did not impact the individual petitioners more intensely than other segments of the population, meaning that they lacked an interest worthy of protection, as well as standing. The same result was reached concerning the five petitioning associations (which are Uniterre, Kleinbauern-Vereinigung, Biogenève, Schweizer Bergheimat and Les jardins de cocagne).

The request to DETEC was made pursuant to Art. 25a of the Swiss Federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA), requesting that the government (and more specifically DETEC) should refrain from the alleged unlawful acts impacting the petitioners’ human and constitutional rights and livelihoods. Art. 25a APA provides that:

In other words, Art. 25a APA allows persons whose rights or obligations are impacted by ‘real acts’ of the federal authorities to seek a (subsequently legally contestable) ruling concerning the situation. This approach has been used by climate litigants to contest policy lacunae given that constitutionality review of existing federal legislation is not possible under Swiss Constitutional law. A similar request was the starting point of the landmark KlimaSeniorinnen case that was ultimately decided upon by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in 2024.

However, and much like the KlimaSeniorinnen association and its members, the present petitioners did not succeed with their request to DETEC. On 20 September 2024, DETEC rejected their request. Uniterre, one of the petitioning associations, argued that DETEC had thereby ignored the ECtHR’s KlimaSeniorinnen judgment, which established that there were access to justice issues for climate applicants in Switzerland by finding a violation of the right to a fair trial (Art. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)).

DETEC’s reasoning did note the KlimaSeniorinnen judgment. First, it argued that the ECtHR had not considered recent developments in Swiss climate policy, emphasizing that Switzerland had a “long history of climate policy” and had only “barely” missed its 2020 national emissions reductions target. DETEC also noted the domestic findings in the KlimaSeniorinnen case, where Swiss courts had left open the question of whether the applicant association in that case had standing. It did not, in doing so, mention the later ruling of the ECtHR, which found that the conduct of these domestic proceedings and particularly the domestic instances’ treatment of the association’s standing claim had violated fair trial rights. Instead, it relied only on the reasoning of the domestic instances in KlimaSeniorinnen to find that the plaintiffs in the present case did not have a sufficient interest to seek legal protection given that they had failed to demonstrate “how they are more affected by the material acts of which DETEC is accused than the rest of the agricultural world, or other economic sectors that may be impacted by global warming (forestry, fishing, etc.), or other groups of people (children, pregnant women, the elderly, etc.). Nor do the individual Claimants establish for each of them that a particular level and severity of damage is likely to be caused by climate change.” (translated from the original French). DETEC found that “what is at stake in the application is the protection of the community as a whole, and not just of individuals, so that it is akin to a form of actio popularis [meaning] that the individual applicants are pursuing public interests that cannot justify victim status.”

Concerning the standing of associations, DETEC noted that the Swiss federal executive had “rejected the extension of associations’ right of appeal to include climate issues, as set out by the European Court of Human Rights [in KlimaSeniorinnen]”. It also noted that the associations did not pursue the specific goal of defending the fundamental rights of their members or other affected individuals in Switzerland, and that alleging that they did do so would be impossible because the associations in question “were all created before the global awareness of the threat of anthropogenic global warming, and therefore before the adoption of the UNFCCC in 1992.”

Overall, DETEC found that while it could not rule out “that the State’s material acts (actions or omissions) in the field of climate change are in principle capable of producing sufficient effects on the Petitioners to affect the right to protection of private and family life, the right to protection of the home guaranteed by art. 13 para. 1 Cst. as well as the guarantee of property (art. 26 Cst.) and economic freedom (art. 27 Cst.) [and] that Switzerland can, in a global context, have an influence on global warming, the fact remains that it is too small to have a decisive influence in this area, in the sense that there is no direct causal link between the actions or omissions of Switzerland and the effects of global warming, the latter being marked above all by the major industrial powers” (translated from the original French). This meant that “Switzerland’s material actions, while morally and politically relevant, have only a marginal effect on global climate change”.

Case before the Swiss Federal Administrative Tribunal:
On 23 October 2024, the plaintiffs challenged the DETEC decision before the Swiss Federal Administrative Tribunal. They invoked four main grounds for appeal, namely that:

  • By ignoring the ECtHR’s KlimaSeniorinnen ruling, the decision violates federal law, the principle of the separation of powers and the binding force of judgments of the ECtHR (art. 46 ECHR). In particular, the applicants argue that the federal executive has undermined judicial oversight “by arrogating to itself the right to emancipate itself from judicial control”.
  • DETEC’s actions and omissions are contrary to law, as is clear from the KlimaSeniorinnen ruling.
  • The (individual) appellants have standing to bring an action, contesting DETEC’s arguments about the limited impact of Swiss emissions on a global scale and arguing that there is no right to “l’égalité dans l’illégalité”. They emphasized the economic losses and health impacts facing the appellants, with impacts on several fundamental rights, and argued that the refusal to recognize the affectedness of the applicants represented a denial of access to justice and a violation of the right to a fair trial as enshrined in domestic law and Article 6 ECHR.
  • The appellant associations have standing as parties, and DETEC’s refusal to follow the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (KlimaSeniorinnen) in this regard had violated fair trial and access to justice entitlements enshrined, among others, in Art. 6 ECHR. The ECtHR had not required associations’ statutes to explicitly mention fundamental rights protection. Furthermore, the statutes and aims of the five associations all related to protecting smallholder, sustainable and/or biological farming, with one association (Uniterre) explicitly pursuing the protection of the human rights of peasants and other rural workers as recognized in the 2018 UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP).

The plaintiffs sought orders to the effect that:

  • An expert study should be commissioned concerning the contribution of climate change to worsening drought in Switzerland and reducing agricultural productivity;
  • The government should be ordered to take every measure needed to avoid negative climate impacts and contribution to chronic drought on Swiss territory, abstain from actions causing corresponding impacts, and take every measure capable of reducing or eliminating the impacts of climate change, chronic drought, and the rights violations complained of.
  • A violation of the right to life (Art. 10 of the Swiss Constitution/Art. 2 ECHR), the right to private life (Art. 13 of the Swiss Constitution/Art. 8 ECHR), the right to property (Art. 26 of the Swiss Constitution, Switzerland not having ratified the first additional protocol to the ECHR that enshrines this right), and the right to economic liberty (Art. 27 of the Swiss Constitution) had taken place.
  • A violation of the climate objectives and environmental protection requirements enshrined in domestic legislation had taken place, insufficient measures had been taken to ensure respect for the Paris Agreement, and overall the sum of the action taken with a direct or indirect impact on the climate had been insufficient.

Status of the case:
Pending before the Swiss Federal Administrative Tribunal.

Case documents:
The full text of the initial request as submitted to the Swiss Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication (DETEC) is available below, as made available by Advocat.e.s pour le Climat (in French).

2024-03-05-Plainte-25a-PA-AvoC-caviardeeDownload

The DETEC decision is available below.

2024-09-24-DETEC-a-ANL-Decision-concernant-la-requete-du-5-mars-2024_caviardeeDownload

The full text of the appeal to the Federal Administrative Tribunal is available below.

2024-10-24-Recours-au-TAF_caviarde (1)Download

Further reading:

  • More information on the case is available via SwissInfo.
  • See also the comment by Charlotte E. Blattner, Robert Finger & Karin Ingold in Nature.

Suggested citation:
Swiss Federal Administrative Court, Uniterre et al. v. Swiss Department of the Environment (Swiss Farmers Case), case filed 23 October 2024 (pending).

Last updated:
2 June 2025.

Categories
Biodiversity Business responsibility / corporate cases Chile Domestic court Loss & damage Paris Agreement Right to a healthy environment Uncategorized

State Defense Council vs. Quiborax S.A.

Summary:
On 2 July 2024, a complaint was filed by the public prosecutor of Antofagasta, representing the State of Chile, against Quiborax S.A., a limited liability company in the mining, agrochemical and energy sectors that produces and exports boric acid. The case concerns ulexite mining in the surface salt deposits in the Salar de Surire, located in the commune of Putre, Region of Arica and Parinacota (the ‘Salar’), and related environmental damage. This includes permanent damage to the Salar itself, alterations of runoff and flooding patterns, a loss of supporting, regulating and cultural ecosystem services, serious habitat alterations and losses, and biodiversity and environmental impacts. This resulted in continuous, cumulative, permanent and irreparable environmental damage to an iconic national and international protected area. The State sought compensation, mitigation and risk reduction measures. In doing so, it relied on Section 19 Nº 8 of the Chilean Constitution, which recognizes the right to live in an environment free of pollution, mandating the State to ensure that this right ‘is not affected and to protect the preservation of nature’, while its subsection 2° confers power to the legislator to ‘establish specific restrictions to the exercise of certain rights or freedoms to protect the environment’.

In doing so, the State cited principles of conservation and sustainable development, and Chile’s international obligations including the Convention for the Protection of the Flora, Fauna and Natural Scenic Beauty of the countries of the Americas (Washington Convention); the Convention on Biological Diversity; the Convention on Biological Diversity; the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (RAMSAR Convention); the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Fauna; the Convention on the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage; the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Fauna; and the Convention on the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage, the UNFCCC, and the Paris Agreement as well as Chile’s Nationally Determined Contribution under that framework.

The State also invoked:

the multiplier effect of climate change and the need to consider this liability for environmental damage, as it constitutes an unavoidable context that must be taken into account, given its capacity to enhance and reinforce the short, medium and long term effects of impairments, deterioration or losses inflicted on environmental components. In this sense, climate change multiplies the effect of impairments, deterioration or losses affecting the regulation or support services provided by abiotic components, such as soil or water or ecosystems themselves, especially threatening unique or singular ecosystems, valuable for their expression of biodiversity. This is precisely what the sixth report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (from now on ‘the IPCC’) on the physical basis of climate change, published in August 2021, has revealed in relation to the environment and sustainable development. It is therefore urgent, on the one hand, to determine the exact influence of climate change on this degraded ecosystem as the amount of rainwater from the summer rains increases, and, on the other hand, to strive to conserve a climatic refuge such as Surire, which sustains the biodiversity not only of the region and the country, but also of the entire world.

Status of the case:
Pending

Last updated:
12 February 2025

Categories
2022 Children and young people Domestic court Emissions reductions/mitigation Imminent risk Indigenous peoples' rights Public trust doctrine Uncategorized United States of America

Sagoonick et al. v. State of Alaska I

Summary:
In 2017, sixteen children and young people — including some who were members of Alaskan Indigenous peoples — filed suit against the U.S. State of Alaska arguing by the state’s climate and energy policy violated their constitutional rights. Because the policy in question authorized and facilitated activities producing greenhouse gas emissions, the plaintiffs alleged violations of their due process rights to life, liberty, and property under the Alaskan Constitution, as well as their right to a stable climate system. The argued that the state government and relevant agencies had, “knowingly and with deliberate indifference”, created a dangerous situation for them, in violation of their constitutional rights. The plaintiffs also made an equal protection claim and alleged a violation of Alaska’s public trust doctrine.

The plaintiffs sought declaratory relief. They sought a declaration that the state had a constitutional duty to protect their constitutional rights, as well as a duty under the public trust doctrine to protect Alaska’s waters, atmosphere, land, fish, wildlife, and other public trust resources. They sought a declaration that the state’s climate and energy policy had violated their rights and placed them “in a position of danger with deliberate indifference to their safety” and had “materially caused, contributed to, and/or exacerbated climate change and discriminated against Youth Plaintiffs as members of a protected class, and with respect to their fundamental rights”. They sought an order for the state to prepare a complete and accurate accounting of Alaska’s GHG emissions and an enforceable state climate recovery plan.

Alaska Superior Court Judgment:
On 30 October 2018, the Alaska Superior Court rejected the case, arguing that it was indistinguishable from previous climate cases based on the public trust doctrine and that it concerned political questions which were not justiciable. The plaintiffs appealed.

Alaska Supreme Court Judgment:
In 2022, on appeal, the Alaska Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of the case (see full text of the judgment below). The Court found that the applicants’ claims concerned non-justiciable political questions and found that it could not make “the legislative policy judgments necessary to grant the requested injunctive relief.”

Judge Maassen, dissenting, argued that he was “no longer convinced that nothing can be gained by clarifying Alaskans’ constitutional rights and the State’s corresponding duties in the context of climate change”, and that the public trust doctrine under the Alaskan Constitution provided a right to a livable climate.

Additional developments:
A follow-up case, Sagoonick et al. v. State of Alaska II, was filed in 2022.

Sagoonick IDownload

Suggested citation:
Supreme Court of Alaska, Sagoonick et al. v. State of Alaska I, 28 January 2022, No. 3AN-17-09910 CI.

Last updated:
14 November 2024

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Uncategorized

GLAN v. the EU (methane emissions)

Summary:
On 16 October 2024, the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), which previously supported the Duarte Agostinho climate case at the European Court of Human Rights, announced that it had filed a climate case before the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). The case argues that the European Union (EU) must address its methane emissions in order to protect human rights from irreversible climate impacts. More concretely, it challenges the EU’s alleged failure to limit methane emissions linked with gas imports.

According to GLAN, this is the first case in Europe focusing on States’ human rights obligations in relation to methane emissions. Arguing that methane emissions are responsible for ca. 30% of global warming, GLAN argues that reductions in methane emissions are necessary to protect human rights against the worsening impacts of climate change.

The case concerns the AggregateEU mechanism, which works to stabilise gas prices. Relying on the landmark KlimaSeniorinnen case before the European Court of Human Rights, GLAN argues that the lack of any limits on methane emissions associated with the gas sold through AggregateEU violates human rights. The application seeks to establish that the EU has a binding obligation to limit the imports of fossil fuels with a high methane intensity.

More information:
More information is available on GLAN’s dedicated case page, available here.

Last updated:
13 November 2024