Young people to take 32 European countries to court over climate policies

The group say they were driven to act by their experiences in the wildfires that hit the Leiria region of Portugal in 2017. Photograph: Pablo Blázquez Domínguez/Getty Images

Six young people are preparing to appear at the European court of human rights to try to compel 32 nations to rapidly escalate their emissions reductions in the world’s largest climate legal action to date.

Aged from 11 to 24, the six Portuguese claimants, say they were driven to act by their experiences in the wildfires that ripped through the Leiria region in 2017, killing 66 people and destroying 20,000 hectares of forest.