The Guardian has a news article about a ruling today from the European Court of Human Rights. The court found in favor of a group of older Swiss women suing their government for violating their human rights by not doing enough about climate change, because older women are more likely to die in the heat waves brought on by climate change.
The court found that the Swiss government’s policies were not science based, and would not help keep global temperature rise to 1.5C. The wording of the ruling also points the way for other lawsuits from other countries.
In 2 other cases, the ECHR said the people suing for human rights violations did not have standing: 1) Portuguese children could not sue multiple countries, and 2) a mayor who sued while he was mayor of a town threatened by flooding, the lawsuit is no longer valid because he doesn’t live there anymore.
This is huge news, a court recognizing that health is a human right, that climate affects health, and that governments have the responsibility to protect their citizens with policies that match the science of what we know is happening.
