European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber to Deliver Rulings in Landmark Climate Justice Cases

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will be delivering landmark rulings in two climate justice cases in which Garden Court counsel are instructed; that of Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland (application no. 53600/20) and Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 32 Others (no. 39371/20) at a public hearing on 9 April at 10.30 a.m. in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg.

The rulings are expected to pave the way for subsequent judgments addressing the responsibility of states under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to prevent future climate-related harms.

Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland (no. 53600/20)
Our Marc Willers KC and Richard Harvey, both of the Garden Court Chambers Environmental Law and Climate Justice Team, represent the Swiss Senior Women as part of an international legal team, in the case of Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland (no. 53600/20). The case was heard by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on 29 March 2023. 

The Swiss Senior Women state that their country's inaction on climate change has violated their human rights. They are concerned about the consequences of global warming on their living conditions and health, as they are particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis because their health is at risk from heat waves. They state that the Swiss authorities are not taking enough action to mitigate climate change. This was the first ever climate change case of its kind to be heard by the European Court of Human Rights. 

The legal team is led by Cordelia Bähr and includes Marc Willers KC, Jessica Simor KC, Raphaël Mahaim, Martin Looser, Louise Fournier and Richard Harvey. Richard is a lawyer in Greenpeace International’s Legal Unit and is also a barrister at Garden Court Chambers. The case has received international press coverage, including BBC News, The Guardian, CNN, Reuters, The Independent and Marc Willers KC appeared on BBC World Service to discuss the case.

Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 32 Others (no. 39371/20) 
Richard Reynolds and Paul Clark, both of the Garden Court Environmental Law and Climate Justice Team, are part of the legal team representing the youth-Applicants in Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 32 Others (no. 39371/20). The case was heard by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday 27 September 2023. 

The claim is brought by six Portuguese young people against 32 European states. The six youth-Applicants argue that these states are violating their human rights by failing to cut their emissions fast enough. The hearing was unprecedented in scale, involving the largest number of states ever brought before any court. 

The six youth-Applicants base their case on the detrimental impacts that climate change is already having on their physical and mental health, as well as the worsening impacts that they will experience in future. Recent heatwaves have confined them to their homes, limiting their ability to play and socialise outdoors, exercise, sleep and concentrate.

According to expert evidence presented to the Court, based on the current global warming trajectory, the youth-Applicants stand to endure heatwaves of over 40°C which last for a month or more. They also point to their exposure to increasing risks from other climate impacts such as wildfires, Atlantic storms and increased exposure to infectious diseases. 

The youth Applicants took their case straight to Strasbourg, without pursuing remedies in the national courts. They did so for several reasons, including the sheer urgency of the issues.

The Duarte Agostinho case was the first climate change case ever filed with the ECtHR. A judgment in the youth Applicants' favour would compel all 32 Respondent states to rapidly accelerate their climate action, and their efforts to reduce emissions. It would also provide to claimants taking future cases, at the national level, a much stronger basis upon which to pursue climate justice.

According to one of the six youth-Applicants, Martim Duarte Agostinho:

“Without urgent action to cut emissions, where I live will soon become an unbearable furnace. It hurts me to know that European governments have the power to do so much more to do their part in preventing this and are choosing not to."

The case has received international press coverage, including in The Guardian, Financial Times, Associated Press and Al Jazeera. Garden Court's Paul Clark and GLAN's Gerry Liston and Ioannis Kalpouzos wrote a blog post for EJIL:Talk!, the blog of the European Journal of International Law on the issuing of the case Application, back in October 2020.

The youth-Applicants in the Duarte Agostinho case lock arms with the Senior Swiss Women outside the European Court of Human Rights after the 'Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and 32 Others' hearing on 27 September 2023.

Notes to Editor

The Grand Chamber will also deliver its ruling in the case Carême v. France (no. 7189/21) on on 9 April at 10.30 a.m. in the Human Rights Building, Strasbourg. This case concerns a complaint by a former inhabitant and mayor of the municipality of Grande-Synthe, who submits that France has taken insufficient steps to prevent global warming and that this failure entails a violation of the right to life and the right to respect for private and family life. 

The Grand Chamber of the ECtHR only hears cases of exceptional importance. Only approximately 0.03% of cases before the ECtHR end up before the Grand Chamber.

Click here to read the Court's press release about the public hearing.

If you are a member of the press, and you would like to organise an interview with the Garden Court barristers instructed in these cases, please email mediaenquiries@gclaw.co.uk.