In Strasbourg, France, the European Court of Human Rights handed out one victory and two defeats for the climate justice movement today as it ruled on three historic climate cases. The court ruled in favor of over 2,000 senior women from Switzerland who argued their rights were violated by governmental inaction on the climate crisis.

Siofra O’Leary: “The court finds that there were some critical lacunae in the Swiss authorities’ process of putting in place the relevant domestic regulatory framework. This included a failure to quantify, through a carbon budget or otherwise, national greenhouse gas emissions limitations. Furthermore, as recognized by the relevant authorities, the respondent state had previously failed to meet its past greenhouse gas emission reduction targets by failing to act in good time and in an appropriate and consistent manner.”

The Swiss women hailed their “historic” victory, but the celebration was tempered by the court’s dismissal of similar cases by six youth activists in Portugal and a former French mayor. Activist Greta Thunberg, who was at the courthouse for the verdicts, weighed in on those verdicts.

Greta Thunberg: “It’s a betrayal beyond words, and today’s rulings make very clear that the European states have a legal responsibility to take real climate action and to protect people, to protect its citizens. It cannot be a political choice whether to respect human rights or not.”