Resisting the allure of future generations’ rights: the ECtHR’s approach to climate action in KlimaSeniorinnen

Abstract

KlimaSeniorinnen - a historic decision: without relying upon future generations’ rights, the European Court of Human Rights answered to climate change by seriously addressing climate action as a legal duty.

Without disregarding the complexity of the matter, let us reflect on the imagery the KlimaSeniorinnen decision evokes. The case presented by elderly women led to a groundbreaking judgment on climate change, while climate litigation has been dominated by arguments in favor of future generations. The Court distanced itself from seductive discourses and centered its reasoning on State obligations required for intergenerational burden-sharing.

In this post I want to shed light on the following aspect of the KlimaSeniorinnen decision: the fact that the Court did not rely on future generations’ rights, but instead sketched a meaningful shift towards identifying positive duties to tackle a proportional intergenerational burden-sharing imposed by rights. The KlimaSeniorinnen decision seems to constitute an important landmark in the discussion about future generations.