Three months ago, we wrote a story about a group of older women who are climate advocates in Switzerland. They call themselves— the youngest member is 64 years old — and they sued the government of Switzerland in the European Court of Human Rights, claiming the Swiss government has denied them a clean and safe environment.
Legal scholars say that suits based on the notion that global heating is harming all people won’t succeed, but a suit filed by a small group of people who can show they have been adversely affected more than others in the general population might be successful — emphasis on “might.” Their case, which could send shockwaves through courts across the continent, rests on two simple facts:Women, particularly older ones, are more likely to die when temperatures soar.
Charlotte Blattner, a researcher at the University of Berne who specializes in climate law, said experts were hopeful that the process would enshrine milestones that nudged governments into more stringent climate policy through human rights guarantees.
Anton Foley, who along with Greta Thunberg was representing Aurora, a youth group that filed a climate lawsuit against Sweden, said it was “unjust” that responsibility for stopping the climate crisis fell on young people and praised the Swiss women for stepping up. “We don’t want to be the hope for the older generation. We want them to do this, because we don’t want to fight this fight.
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