Greta Thunberg, climate activists greenlighted to sue Sweden
Sweden must reduce emissions by at least 6.5 to 9.4 million tonnes of CO2 per year from 2019, the lawsuit says.
A Swedish court has given Greta Thunberg and hundreds of other climate activists the green light to proceed with a class action lawsuit against the Swedish government for “insufficient climate policies”.
Thunberg and 600 other young activists in a group called Aurora sued the Swedish state in November, claiming it had to do more to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) in order to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.
On Tuesday, the Nacka district court said the lawsuit can proceed after the group modifies the claim.
“The court today issued a subpoena in a high-profile class action lawsuit,” the court said in a statement. “The case requires the court to determine that the state has an obligation to take certain specified measures to mitigate climate change.”
The Swedish state has three months to respond to the lawsuit before the case can be heard or settled in writing, the court said, adding it could not say when the lawsuit could be decided.
Aurora wants the court to rule that Sweden must reduce emissions by at least 6.5 to 9.4 million tons of CO2 per year from 2019.
“The health and future of the planet, and ours, is directly dependent on whether or not our politicians recognize the seriousness of the climate crisis, which is why Aurora wants to do everything it can to get you there,” the group said. . said in an open letter to the Swedish government last year.
‘Choices we make now’
On Monday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the “climate time bomb is ticking” as he urged rich countries to cut emissions sooner after a new assessment by UN scientists said there was little time to lose was in tackling climate change.
“This report offers hope and it gives a warning,” said Hoesung Lee, chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “The choices we make now and in the years to come will reverberate around the world for hundreds, even thousands of years.”
Alex Rafalowicz, executive director of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said the only way to avoid the “worst-case climate change scenarios” is to immediately curtail hydrocarbon production.
“The coal, oil and gas we already have in production will blow us past our climate goals,” he said.
“The summary for policymakers is simple: stop new fossil fuel projects, phase out existing polluting projects, put access to renewable energy in hyperdrive. The science is unequivocal, the problem is the lack of political will that prevents us from taking courageous action to reverse this crisis.”