On 9 April the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) issued its first ever comprehensive decision in a climate litigation case. The judges of the Court’s Grand Chamber found that Switzerland was in breach of its positive obligations to protect the health, well-being and quality of life of Swiss citizens from the […]
European Court of Human Rights
17 posts
A Missed Opportunity or the First of Many Decisions to Come? The recent rulings on climate change by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are—as others have pointed out in this blog symposium—both “historic and unprecedented” for various reasons, not least regarding the question of reparation for climate change-related harm. While redress […]
In Verein Klimaseniorinnen Schweiz and Others v Switzerland (“KlimaSeniorinnen”), the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) makes many general statements about the nature of climate change and different actors’ roles in addressing it. For example, ‘the Court notes that climate change is one of the most pressing issues […]
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 […]
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 […]