European General Court Dismisses `People`s Climate Case´
On 22 May the European General Court reportedly dismissed a prominent climate case brought by 10 families from Portugal, Germany, France, Italy, Romania, Kenya, Fiji and the Swedish Saami Youth Association Sáminuorra, who claimed that the EU`s 2030 climate goals are not ambitious enough. They claimed that the EU fails to protect their fundamental rights of life, health, occupation and property. The case resembles the Dutch Urgenda case that has been discussed earlier in this blog . The General Court dismissed the case on formal grounds, rather than on the merits. The criterion of `direct and individual concern´ for citizens proved to be the crucial hurdle in the case. Plaintiffs pledged to appeal in front of the highest EU Court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ).