Switzerland isn’t exactly known for warm weather. But recent summer heat waves in the Alpine nation have become much more extreme, leading to hundreds of deaths – and a major lawsuit, brought by a group of more than 1,800 elderly Swiss women against the Swiss government, arguing that their country’s inadequate climate change response amounts to a violation of their human rights.
“They closely follow [the] weather forecast and organise their life around it. They often stay at home with blinded windows … They resign from outdoor activities,” the group’s lawyers wrote in a 2020 petition. “All of this results in (increased) loneliness, sadness and anxiety.” And above all, they added, an increased risk of premature death: Research has shown that older women are more likely to die from heat-related illness than any other demographic group.
On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights sided with the women, handing down a historic decision that experts expect to reverberate around the world.
“It’s a big deal,” says Jarryd Page, an attorney at the Environmental Law Institute, a nonpartisan research, publishing and education center. “It’s going to take time to sort out or understand the full impact, but it does mean that countries are likely to really start reviewing what they’re doing on climate change. What commitments are they making? Are they strong enough? Are they living up to those commitments?”
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