EUROPE’S TOP HUMAN RIGHTS COURT FINDS A POSITIVE OBLIGATION FOR GOVERNMENTS TO MAKE EFFECTIVE CLIMATE POLICY
By: Matthew Warren
On April 9, 2024, Europe’s top human rights court ruled that Switzerland’s failure to effectively combat climate change violated its citizens’ human rights.[1] In the case Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland, the European Court of Human Rights’ (“ECtHR”) Grand Chamber held that the Swiss government had not met its positive obligation to cut greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (“the Convention”).[2] KilmaSeniorinnen is a group of over 2,000 Swiss women aged 64 and older that argued that they were particularly at risk of dying from heatwaves as a result of government inaction.[3] This is the first time that an international human rights court has upheld a right to climate protection.[4]
