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A group of elderly women in Switzerland won a landmark case against their government proving that advocacy is a solution to climate change.
On April 9th, 2024, Environmental advocates won a landmark case that will determine the extent European countries are violating human rights by failing to adequately combat and mitigate the effects of climate change. In the European Court of Human Rights, a victory for the first climate case was achieved by a collective of elderly women from Switzerland. According to the women, who are mainly in their 70s, their age and gender put them at a higher risk for the impacts of heatwaves associated with climate change.
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The Swiss women, advocates from the Kilma Seniorinnen (Senior Women for Climate Protection), were led by Rosemarie Wydler-Walti. They stated that they were unable to leave their homes and experience health problems due to heatwaves. According to data released on Tuesday, it was revealed that last month was the warmest March ever recorded globally, marking the tenth consecutive month of breaking temperature records.
The Swiss court judged in favor of the elderly women, stating that the country’s attempts to reach its goals for reducing emissions were severely insufficient. This marks the initial instance in which the influential court has made a decision regarding the issue of climate change and could impact litigations worldwide. The climate crisis is a human rights crisis and it’s up to our governments to protect its citizens.
On the same day as the ruling Greta Thunberg, a Swedish activist, joined other campaigners in Strasbourg to celebrate at the court. According to Ms. Thunberg, this is just the start of climate-related lawsuits, because in the face of a climate crisis, everything is in jeopardy. “Today’s ruling made it very clear that the European states have a very legal responsibility to take climate action and protect its people and citizens. It cannot be a political choice to respect human rights or not.” She stated. “All over the world, more and more people are taking their government to court, holding them responsible for their actions.”
According to the Court ruling, Switzerland was found to be in breach of its obligations under the Convention on climate change and was found to have infringed upon the right to privacy and family life. The report found that there were significant deficiencies in the nation’s strategies for addressing climate change, such as not accurately measuring decreases in greenhouse gas emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and gas.
Just as Greta Thunberg pointed out, this decision holds authority and has the potential to impact legislation in 46 European countries, including the United Kingdom.
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The Senior Women for Climate Protection, which currently has more than 2,000 members, initiated the case nine years ago. Their goal was to advocate for improved safeguarding of women’s health in the face of climate change. Their advocacy continues today with fears that the world is reaching “uncharted territory” sparked by the record hot month of March, as reported by scientists. According to a recent study, Swiss glaciers have decreased in size by 10% over the span of two years. Studies also show that these rising temperatures are disportionately impacting the health of older adults. According to the EPA, “Older adults are more likely to have health conditions that make them more sensitive to climate hazards like heat and air pollution, which can worsen their existing illnesses.”
The rulings of the European Court of Human Rights also have a significant impact on the legal systems of all 46 countries that are part of its membership. The ruling addresses challenging matters that are also problematic for UK courts and may have a convincing impact. As countries around the world make commitments to significantly decrease their output of greenhouse gases, they must be held accountable to meet these goals. According to scientists, the pace of progress is insufficient and the world is not on course to achieve the critical goal of capping the increase in global temperature at 1.5C.
This ruling, while being a victory, is only the beginning. Since 2017, the number of climate change cases around the world has more than doubled jumping to 2,180 in 2022. Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP said, “People are increasingly turning to courts to combat the climate crisis, holding governments and the private sector accountable and making litigation a key mechanism for securing climate action and promoting climate justice.”