10 Major case on climate ruling to be heard today
AN Irish lawyer who helped six young Portuguese people take the European Union to court over the climate crisis will learn the outcome of the landmark case today.
But “win or lose”, Gearoid O Cuinn says it will be “a historic moment”.
The youth applicants in the Duarte Agostinho case challenged government failures to protect their human rights from the dangerous effects of climate change.
Director at Galway’s Global Legal Action Network, Gearoid, told us the “climate case was built entirely out of our office” but involves an international team that includes senior lawyer Gerry Liston.
They went head-tohead with 87 lawyers hired by countries across Europe in the David v Goliath case before the European Court of Human Rights in September with the ruling expected today.
Gearoid says what the ECHR decides “could determine the future of litigation on how rising temperatures affect people’s right to a liveable planet”.
He added: “This was the first climate case filed with the court and a hearing was held in the Grand Chamber last September. They will issue a ruling in our case and two others.”
The two other cases are KlimaSeniorinnen v Switzerland and Carême v France, which both examine the adequacy of those governments’ climate mitigation measures.
Gearóid said: “Win or lose, it will be a historic moment.
“A win would legally bind 32 Council of Europe States and require them to take more urgent action in reducing greenhouse gas emissions not only within their borders but also the global operations of their companies.
“In practice that would be the equivalent of a regional climate treaty requiring urgent, dramatic emissions reductions.”