The European Court’s Climate Change Judgment

On May the 1st, the UCL Institute for Human Rights hosted a hybrid event on the landmark judgment of the European Court of Human Rights on climate change (Klimaseniorinnen v Switzerland), which was handed down in April. A panel of UCL experts analysed the reasoning of the Court and its implications for states’ duties and debated the strengths and weaknesses of litigation as a means to promote environmental justice. The event was introduced and chaired by the Dean of the UCL Faculty of Laws, Professor Eloise Scotford. 

George Letsas discussed the normative tension in the Court’s approach to standing, and how uneasily it sits within the Court’s case law and proposed that associations should best be seen as representing the Convention rights of future generations, who are not represented in current decision-making. Veronika Fikfak argued that the most significant aspect of the judgment is what remedies will be available and the way in which the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will monitor compliance with Switzerland’s positive obligation to impose an adequate regulatory framework for reducing emissions. Sonam Gordham reflected on the reasoning of the dissent by Judge Tim Eicke, and how it was based on different normative assumptions than the majority opinion in the judgment, particularly about the scope and limits of human rights, and the role of the Court, with respect to climate change. Maria Lee raised the broader issue that courts are not the only means by which to promote environmental aims, and that cases often play an outsized role in this respect, running the risk of obscuring the significance of other factors such as environmental policy and civil society. Finally, Lisa Vanhala stressed the importance of empirical research into how strategic environmental litigation operates, particularly with respect to who pursues it and funds it, and with what aims, raising the concern that litigation can potentially exclude legitimate interests and voices from being heard. 

The presentations were followed by a lively Q & A session with a large audience attending in person, comprised of practitioners, academics, NGO members, students, and members of the public. Over 100 people also attended the event online. You can watch the video here: https://youtu.be/8NVdfCooY8I