Tuesday’s ruling doesn’t include any sanctions on the Swiss government, but it does create a precedent others can use to seek penalties in national courts.
The Swiss judgment was one of three high-profile climate cases before the human rights court. All alleged that government inaction on climate change violated people’s basic rights to life, privacy and family.
The court dismissed the other two lawsuits tuesday, including one that featured six younger Portuguese individuals taking on 32 countries and a second featuring a former French mayor going after the French government. In the rulings, the court said the two cases did not meet its admissibility criteria.
