What Does The New Grand Chamber Judgment Mean For Climate Action In Austria?

In a landmark decision: The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the European Convention on Human Rights ("ECHR") grants individuals a right to effective protection by the state from the severe adverse effects of climate change on life, health, well-being and quality of life.  The European Court of Human Rights also dealt with the right of appeal of climate protection organisations and clearly stated that states parties to the ECHR must facilitate access to national courts for climate protection organisations.

It marks the first time the court has ruled on cli­mate lit­ig­a­tion 

The affected parties (applicants) are, on the one hand, Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz, an association under Swiss law established to promote and implement effective climate protection on behalf of its members, who are more than 2,000 older women (one-third of whom are over 75) and, on the other, four women, all members of the association and aged over 80 years, who complain