33 countries on trial for failure to accelerate emissions cut

Thirsty-three countries will be brought to trial before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on September 27 over charges of “violating human rights to life” after they failed to accelerate the cut of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

The case was filed by six climate change advocates (four young adults and two children) in Portugal. Their lawsuit is based on Articles 2, 8, and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantee the right to life, as they see this is threatened by the slowdown of GHG emissions production cuts.

The young claimants see that the impacts of climate change affect young people who could not practice their freedom to enjoy life outdoors, as the increasing heatwaves force people to stay home for long times, besides the wildfires that recently swept through thousands of hectares in the Alentejo region of the country in early August.

The defendant countries include European Council members Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden, in addition to Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

The first hearing will be before 22 judges of the court. The plaintiffs filed the case before the ECtHR in September 20, 2020. One month later, the court ordered the case to be fast-tracked and in November asked the defendant governments to respond and answer if the youth’s rights were violated. However, in February 2021, the countries requested to overturn the fast-tracking of the case. In April 2023, the court set September 27 for the first hearing of the trial, according to the group Youth 4 Climate Justice.

At an environmental forum in Macau, the vice-president of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), Carlos Pimenta Machoda, said that Portugal is one of the most effaced countries by climate change in terms of heavy rains and long periods of droughts, Portugal Resident reported on August 18.

On September 15, more than four climate protesters were arrested after they blocked the route to the Portuguese cabinet in protest against the government’s failure to take urgent climate action.