these States already condemned for inaction or failure to fulfill their obligations

Switzerland was just condemned on Tuesday by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for climate inaction. A historic decision but far from being isolated: other states have already been singled out in the fight against global warming.

In a historic judgment handed down on Tuesday April 9, Switzerland was condemned by the ECHR, the European Court of Human Rights. This is the first time that this institution has condemned a State for climate inaction, after a request from 2,500 elderly women denouncing “failures of Swiss authorities to mitigate the effects of climate change”. The Court notably ruled that Switzerland was infringing several fundamental rights defined by the European Convention on Human Rights. But other states have already been condemned by the courts of their own country, or by a body of the European Union (EU) on climate issues.

Bulgaria targeted for its air quality

It is the first EU state to be condemned on the issue of air pollution by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU), a body which ensures compliance with European legislation in all member states. In its judgment in April 2017, the Court mentioned the “systematic and persistent non-compliance” between 2007 and 2013 of limit values ​​for fine particles in several cities, including the capital Sofia. However, thresholds for fine particles and nitrogen dioxide are set by a 2008 European directive on air quality. The convictions on this same directive will also follow one another. Let us cite for example Poland in February 2018, Italy in November 2020, Germany in June 2021…

France was also condemned by the CJEU. In October 2019, she estimated that France had not made enough efforts to combat air pollution, specifically on the annual limit value for nitrogen dioxide. In May 2022, France was once again singled out by the CJEU on the same directive, for having exceeded “systematically and persistently” thresholds for fine particles in Paris and Martinique.

France, repeatedly condemned

If France falls through the cracks of the ECHR this time, it already has a certain record in terms of convictions. In 2017, the state Council urges the government to take urgent measures to “respect European air pollution thresholds in several urban areas of France” after an appeal from Friends of the Earth and other associations. The French State is accused of not respecting the authorized thresholds for concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and fine PM10 particles. Faced with failings, the same Council condemns the State to fines of several million euros successively in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

The other case is called “The Case of the Century”, brought by four NGOs, including Oxfam and Greenpeace. The Paris administrative court condemns the State in February 2021 for “culpable deficiencies”, more precisely, for non-compliance with objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions between 2015 and 2018. The State must pay a symbolic euro to the applicant associations for “moral harm”. In October 2021, the State was again condemned, this time to “repair ecological damage” by the end of 2022. At the end of 2023, in a new judgment, the court considers that the State “had adopted or implemented measures likely to repair the damage in question”.

In the Netherlands, an unprecedented conviction

In 2014, the environmental NGO Urgenda and more than 850 citizens filed an appeal before the Dutch courts to ensure that the State reduces its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% by the end of 2020 compared to 1990 levels. The State was condemned in 2015, which was the first time that citizens managed to have a government recognized as responsible for climate inaction. He filed two appeals, both of which were rejected. The Netherlands was definitively condemned in 2019 by the country’s Supreme Court. But the decision does not provide for any constraints to oblige the State to respect its objectives.

Belgium facing 58,000 citizens

The decision comes as COP28 has just opened in Dubai in November 2023. Belgian justice condemns the federal government and two of the country’s three regions (Flanders and Brussels-Capital) for not having acted sufficiently against global warming. This is what they call the “Climate Affair” there, led by the association of the same name and 58,000 citizens. They demanded that the State and its three regions reduce their emissions by 61% by 2030, under penalty of penalties of one million euros. In its judgment, the Brussels Court of Appeal considers that through their inaction, these authorities violated two articles of the European Convention on Human Rights: “the right to life” And “the right to respect for one’s private and family life, one’s home and one’s correspondence”. The Court obliges the three authorities to reduce their emissions by at least 55% in 2030 compared to 1990, without however applying penalties.

In Germany, emissions singled out

By coincidence, Germany was also condemned on the opening day of COP28. After a request from two environmental associations, German justice ruled at the end of November 2023 that the federal state had not sufficiently reduced its greenhouse gas emissions in the transport and building sectors. The country had already been singled out by its Constitutional Court in April 2021: it judged that the climate protection law was insufficient and ordered the government to increase its commitments.

A law overturned in Montana

In the United States, 16 young people won a historic lawsuit against the state of Montana in August 2023. They succeeded in overturning a law favorable to the fossil fuel industry. A local clause makes it possible to circumvent the impact of greenhouse gas emissions when granting permits to companies linked to this sector. But the Montana Constitution is supposed to guarantee “the right to a clean and healthy environment”, particularly for future generations, argued the young applicants. The law was therefore declared unconstitutional by a state judge.