The thousands of older Swiss women who took their government to Europe’s top human rights court did indeed make history, as they wanted to do.

The verdict, which cannot be appealed, indicates Switzerland has a legal duty to take greater action on reducing emissions, and establishes a binding legal precedent for all 46 countries that are signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights.

If Switzerland does not update its policies, further litigation could follow at the national level and courts could issue financial penalties, said Lucy Maxwell, co-director of the non profit Climate Litigation Network.

The more than 2,500 Swiss women, known as KlimaSeniorinnen and aged over 64, said their government’s climate inaction put them at risk of dying during heatwaves. They argued their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to such climate change impacts.

In her ruling, Court President Siofra O’Leary said the Swiss government had failed to comply with its own targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions and had failed to set a national carbon budget.

“It is clear that future generations are likely to bear an increasingly severe burden of the consequences of present failures and omissions to combat climate change,” she said.

KlimaSeniorinnen’s co-leader Rosmarie Wydler-Wälti said she was struggling to grasp the full extent of the decision. “We keep asking our lawyers, ‘Is that right?’. And they tell us ‘it’s the most you could have had. The biggest victory possible’.”

Switzerland has committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, from 1990 levels. Bern had proposed stronger measures to deliver the goal, but voters rebuffed them in a 2021 referendum as too burdensome.

The verdict could also influence future rulings at the Strasbourg court. “(It) sets a crucial legally binding precedent serving as a blueprint for how to successfully sue your own government over climate failures,” said Ruth Delbaere, legal campaigns director at global civic movement Avaaz.

Courts in Australia, Brazil, Peru and South Korea are considering human rights-based climate cases. India’s supreme court held in a ruling last month that citizens have the right to be free from the adverse impacts of climate change.

Despite finding for the Swiss women, the court rejected two other climate-related cases on procedural grounds, including one brought by a group of six Portuguese young people against 32 European governments. The court ruled that the young people had not exhausted legal avenues within Portugal’s national courts before coming to the ECtHR.

“I really hoped that we would win against all the countries,” said Sofia Oliveira, one of the Portuguese teens. “But the most important thing is that the Court has said in the Swiss women’s case that governments must cut their emissions more to protect human rights. So, their win is a win for us too and a win for everyone.”

Sources:

Swiss women win landmark climate case at Europe top human rights court Reuters, Apr 9, 2024

We won! KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz website

Cover image: I love this picture, which was taken by Miriam Künzli of Greenpeace and posted on the womens’ website.