Court rules that Switzerland violates human rights by failing to control the climate crisis

A France-based international court ruled on Tuesday that Switzerland's failure to adequately address the climate crisis is violating human rights, in a historic climate judgment that experts say could have a ripple effect around the world.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, France, has issued rulings on a trio of separate climate lawsuits, one filed by more than 2,000 elderly Swiss women against Switzerland. They argued that heat waves driven by climate change undermined their health and put them at risk of death.

The court ruled that the Swiss government violated some of the women's human rights by failing to meet previous targets to reduce planet-warming pollution.

The other demands were presented by a mayor against the French government and a third lawsuit was filed by six young people in Portugal against 32 European countries. These two allegations were considered inadmissible.

All three argued that governments' failure to adequately reduce planet-warming pollution has caused them harm, including violating their rights to life, well-being and mental health.

These actions mark the first time the court has ruled on climate litigation. There is no right of appeal and decisions are legally binding.

Although the ruling only applies to Switzerland, experts say the case could bolster other human rights-based climate cases pending in international courts and could open the door for numerous similar lawsuits to be launched in the future.

A ruling against either country effectively works “like a court-imposed binding treaty,” said Gerry Liston, a lawyer with the Global Legal Action Network, which supported Portugal’s case.