A little over three years ago, a group of Portuguese youths filed a legal action against 33 European governments to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) over what they say is a failure to adequately tackle global heating. Now, the Strasbourg court will be hearing them on 27 September, in a novel, far-fetching bid to arm-twist them into taking climate action.
The case represents the third time that a climate lawsuit is held at the ECHR. It is also momentous through the sheer number of governments on trial and its plaintiffs’ ages, now ranging from 11 to 24. Among the accused are the EU’s 27 member states as well as the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.
