The lawsuit by young Portuguese people against 32 states, which was filed at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), could force Europe to act urgently against the climate crisis, according to Zero, an environmental association.
The case – which will be analysed on Wednesday – is an opportunity for European governments to step up the fight against the climate crisis because countries “have not gone far enough in their climate actions,” according to Zero.
With regard to the ECHR’s judgement on Wednesday, the association recalls in its statement that the six young people took action in September 2020, launching a lawsuit against more than 30 European countries after witnessing devastating forest fires and increasingly intense heatwaves.
The six young people argued that the climate ambition of the accused countries, including Portugal, is insufficient to protect their fundamental rights, including their right to life and their right to their physical and mental well-being.
In a statement, the association says that European governments have a legal duty to act urgently to prevent climate catastrophe and emphasises that the young people’s initiative constitutes “the largest climate lawsuit ever launched.”
In the document, the organisation warns that time is running out for young people to safeguard their future and that governments have a legal duty to take much more radical and urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The EU must urgently reduce gross emissions by at least 65% by 2030 and achieve zero net emissions by 2040 at the latest, according to Zero.
Following the hottest summer on record in Europe, Zero recalls, the case will be heard on Wednesday, with the ECHR holding a public hearing in Strasbourg in the case of Duarte Agostinho and others versus 32 states.
“The hearing, which will take place before 22 judges, will be of an unprecedented scale,” Zero emphasises in its statement.
In the document, Zero states that the European Climate Action Network, an organisation of almost 200 European associations to which it belongs, “is a third party intervener in this case” and has submitted evidence to the court to support the plaintiffs’ allegations.
“If the case is successful, the Court’s judgement, which should be published within the next 18 months, will be like a new legally binding treaty, directly obliging 32 European governments to act urgently against the climate crisis,” the statement said.
Asserting that European public opinion strongly supports the case of the young Portuguese, Zero believes that the European Union must accelerate its climate action and increase its ambition to protect citizens from dangerous climate change.
(Fernando Peixeiro, edited by Cristina Cardoso | Lusa.pt)
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