Four children and two young adults from Portugal have filed a landmark climate case at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, demanding 33 countries make more ambitious emissions cuts. The crowdfunded legal action, supported by the NGO Global Legal Action Network, targets states including the UK, EU nations, Norway, Russia, Turkey, Switzerland and Ukraine for failing to protect the young from climate change impacts.
The plaintiffs, aged 15 to 20, argue that inadequate action on emissions violates their rights to exercise outdoors and live without anxiety. They cite devastating 2017 forest fires in Portugal that killed over 120 people, with four applicants from the worst-hit Leiria region. Expert testimony warns of a thirty-fold increase in heatwave deaths in western Europe by 2071-2100 under current warming trends.
Catarina Mota, 20, said the climate crisis already affects her physically and psychologically: 'Lately, it is impossible to exercise outdoors. Heatwaves are extreme and recurring. I live with the feeling my home is becoming more hostile each year.' Sofia Oliveira, 15, added: 'We have seen unbearable heatwaves causing water shortages and wildfires that give us anxiety. If we see these extremes in 2020, what will the future be like?'
The case seeks binding orders to compel states to cut emissions both domestically and from overseas activities like fossil fuel extraction. Glan legal officer Gerry Liston said: 'This is the most countries ever taken to a regional court in a climate case. If we win, it will have a very significant effect throughout Europe.' The court must first rule on admissibility before considering the merits.
More than 1,300 climate lawsuits have been filed globally since 1990, with the most successful in the Netherlands forcing a €3bn emissions reduction plan. The Portuguese case hopes to set a precedent for other courts. Glan director Gearóid Ó Cuinn said: 'It is the youth who stand to be discriminated against. They bear the burden in terms of risk.'
