A key and underrated aspect of the recent triad of climate rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is that the ECtHR has brought to the fore the role of trade-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in states’ carbon footprints. While most international climate agreements focus on the reduction […]
Blog Series
36 posts
Amid governments’ unwillingness to effectively curb climate change, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has delivered a bold judgment in favor of a viable future for all in the case KlimaSeniorinnen and Others v. Switzerland (“KlimaSeniorinnen”). The ruling made judicial history. Many claim for the better, as it’s widely […]
Across Europe, activists of all ages have taken to the streets to pressure their governments to take effective action against climate change. As domestic decision-makers failed them, they knocked at Strasbourg’s door. Three generations of right-holders turned to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR): senior women, young citizens, and […]
The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in the case Verein KlimaSeniorinnen v. Switzerland is a striking example of the Paris effect: the influence of the non-binding collective goals of the Paris Agreement (PA) on the interpretation of domestic constitutional law or international human rights law in […]
On April 9, 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled on three applications concerning the fight against climate change and the positive obligations of the signatory states of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in this respect. Two of the applications were declared inadmissible (Duarte Agostinho and […]
Incorporating International Climate Change Law to Maintain the ECHR’s Relevance Amid the Climate Crisis “Everything could be different – and yet there is almost nothing I can change.” This is, as Niklas Luhmann observed, the paradoxical blend that modern democracies impose on citizens, inviting either utopianism or fatalism. Disillusionment with the […]
The climate rulings of the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are landmark decisions. However, it is not obvious what they mean precisely for the State parties of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Have we witnessed, in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz, a landslide victory for […]
On April 9, 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued its first-ever findings concerning climate change. This post, part of a series on the ECtHR decisions, discusses Duarte Agostinho and Others v. 32 Member States. The case was brought by six youth applicants from Portugal, who alleged breaches […]