The “Peoples’ Climate Case” summarized

Abstract

The case, dubbed the people’s climate case, is brought by children and their parents, working in agriculture and tourism in the EU and abroad who are and will increasingly be adversely affected in their livelihoods and their physical well-being by climate change effects such as droughts, flooding, heat waves, sea level rise and the disappearance of cold seasons. They are supported and joined by an association of indigenous Sami youth. The applicants are engaged in a range of economic activities, including the cultivation of crops, forestry management, animal herding, and eco-tourism. For each of the families, climate change has in some cases already curtailed their activities and livelihoods. The Defendants are the European Parliament and the Council of the EU. These are the institutions of the Union responsible for the adoption of the legal acts challenged by this application. The Applicants are represented by the three authors of this article. They bring two related applications concerning the responsibility of the Union for emissions of greenhouse gases (‘GHGs’), leading to dangerous climate change. They contend that the Union has failed and continues to fail to meet its urgent responsibilities to limit the emission of GHGs, in breach of its binding obligations of higher rank law. This breach currently manifests in three recently adopted legal acts of the European Parliament and the Council, which cover different sectors of the economy.