VIENNA, July 7 — An Austrian court today rejected a lawsuit brought by 12 minors who accused the government of failing to revise a climate protection law, which they said insufficiently protects their constitutional rights.
A growing number of organisations and individuals around the world have turned to the courts to challenge what they see as government inaction on preventing climate change.
The Austrian lawsuit, the first of its kind in the nation and submitted in February, claimed a law dating from 2011 is not ensuring that children are shielded from the consequences of global warming.
Austria’s Constitutional Court rejected the suit as “inadmissible”, stating that “not all parts of the law were challenged” despite them being “inextricably linked”, according to a statement after the ruling.
The court deemed the lawsuit’s scope “too narrow”.
Michaela Kroemer, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, aged five to 16 years old, told AFP that the court hadn’t addressed the lawsuit’s actual content.
She has previously said that the law “which lacks greenhouse gas reduction targets, clear responsibilities and an accountability mechanism clearly infringes” on constitutional rights.
The challenge is being supported by environmental activists, including Fridays for Future, the movement inspired by Sweden’s Greta Thunberg.
In February, Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler of the Green party — the junior partner in Austria’s conservative-led coalition government—praised the “great commitment of young people to climate protection”.
Several lawsuits by Greenpeace and the Austrian activist group Global 2000 have also accused the conservative-led government of inaction in the face of climate change.
In 2021, an Austrian with multiple sclerosis sued the government in the European rights court for failing to protect the climate, saying global warming has worsened his condition.
A ruling is still pending, according to a Fridays for Future spokeswoman. — AFP
