In September 2020, four children and two young adults from Portugal – all witness to the extreme heat and wildfires that have ravaged their home region – submitted a historic complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), the top institution dealing with human rights violations in Europe. Their complaint is against 33 European countries.
The plaintiffs claim that they face unprecedented risks to their lives and livelihoods and accuse the defendants of contributing to climate change and failing to take any effective measures against it. This, the plaintiffs say, violates their rights to life, privacy and non-discrimination under the European Convention on Human Rights. On November 30, the ECHR made headlines by asking the defendant countries to respond to the complaint.
In their complaint to the ECHR, the Portuguese young people referred to the 2019 UN Production Gap Report, measuring the discrepancy between the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C warming goal and countries’ planned production of fossil fuels.
Just two days after the ECHR announcement, the 2020 edition was published. The latest report confirms that the world is nowhere near being on track to achieving the critical transition from fossil fuels that would prevent disastrous climate change. It may well be that the fate of these plaintiffs now rests in the hands of the ECHR.
This is just one recent instance in a growing global wave of high-profile climate cases against governments around the world.