Bonavero Discussion Group - Climate Crisis Litigation: A new Era?

On 9 April 2024 the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz v Switzerland that Switzerland was in breach of the right to private life under Article 8 of the ECHR for failing to take sufficiently effective measures to mitigate global climate change. The Court set out particular measures that a state needs to adopt in order to mitigate the climate crisis, for example to specify ‘a target timeline for achieving carbon neutrality’ and to set out ‘intermediate GHG emissions reductions targets’ among many others. On 3 May 2024 in the case R (Friends of the Earth et al.) v Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, [2024] EWHC 995 (Admin) the English High Court (Sheldon J) accepted a challenge against the UK Government's ‘Carbon Budget Delivery Plan’ finding it legally flawed in various ways under the Climate Change Act 2008 (for a second government defeat on this issue).
Is this a new era of climate justice through strategic litigation? Or are these modest victories, in a process that is likely to be more political than legal? Our expert panellists offer their views.
Panellists:
David Wolfe KC, Barrister at Matrix Chambers, who acted for the first claimant in in R (Friends of the Earth et al.) v Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
Professor Freya Baetens, Professor of International Law, University of Oxford & Member of the Brussels Bar
Professor Pavlos Eleftheriadis, Professor of Legal Studies, NYU Abu Dhabi, Affiliated Professor, NYU School of Law & Senior Research Fellow, Mansfield College, Oxford
Chair:
Helen Mounfield KC, Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford & Barrister at Matrix Chambers