Human rights violated by inaction on climate, ECHR rules in landmark case

Court finds in favour of group of older Swiss women who claimed weak policies put them at greater risk of death from heatwaves

Weak government climate policies violate fundamental human rights, the European court of human rights has ruled.

In a landmark decision on one of three major climate cases, the first such rulings by an international court, the ECHR raised judicial pressure on governments to stop filling the atmosphere with gases that make extreme weather more violent.