Senior Women for Climate Protection Switzerland's Story

Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz (“Senior Women for Climate Protection Switzerland”) and four individual women (all over 80 and with health problems exacerbated by heatwaves) brought a case against the Swiss Government. They said failing to take steps to meet obligations under the Paris Agreement breached their right to life, right to private and family life and right to a fair trial.

The ECtHR said the individual women couldn’t show that they were victims of the issue because they couldn’t show that they were particularly exposed or at risk of being exposed to the negative effects of climate change to “a degree of intensity giving rise to a pressing need to ensure their individual protection”. However, it recognised that the organisation, Senior Women for Climate Protection Switzerland, was “a vehicle of collective recourse aimed at defending the rights and interests of individuals against the threats of climate change in Switzerland” and that climate change is a “common concern of humankind”. The ECtHR therefore said the organisation was able to bring the case on behalf of its members.

The ECtHR said the right to private and family life had been breached because Switzerland failed to meet its positive obligations to take action on climate change. It had not taken appropriate and timely steps to mitigate the effects of climate change, such as through measuring greenhouse gas emissions.

The ECtHR also said that the right to a fair trial had been breached because Swiss courts had dismissed the organisation’s case without considering it properly and there were no other avenues available.

The ECtHR decided it didn’t need to look at the right to life and whether the failure to combat climate change could have life-threatening consequences as this was “more questionable” and the ECtHR had already found breaches under the right to private life.