Europe's court asserts climate safety as a human right, inviting new legal challenges

Europe's leading human rights court has declared that protection from climate change is a fundamental human right, opening the door for individuals to sue their governments over environmental inaction.

Federica Di Sario reports for POLITICO.

In short:

Europe's top human rights court has decided that safety from climate change is a human right, affecting nearly 50 governments and around 700 million people.
This precedent-setting judgment allows for national lawsuits against governments for failing to protect citizens from climate dangers.
Despite dismissing two other climate cases on technical grounds, the court provided guidance for future litigation, suggesting a new pathway for climate-related legal actions.

Key quote:

The verdict will serve "as a blueprint for how to successfully sue your own government over climate failures."

— Ruth Delbaere, legal specialist at Avaaz

Why this matters:

The acknowledgment of climate safety as a fundamental human right represents a new level of commitment to protecting the most vulnerable populations from the adverse effects of environmental degradation.

This is what a climate change catastrophe looks like.

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