Greta Thunberg Is Taking Sweden to Court Over Climate Crisis Again
Por Sophia Sheera — Novara Media
Greta Thunberg and Swedish youth climate organisation Aurora are suing the Swedish government over its failures to tackle the climate crisis.
While Sweden has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions at a rate faster than the EU average, the country is not on track to meet its own target of net zero by 2045.
Thunberg said on Monday that Aurora has filed a second lawsuit , arguing that Sweden is failing in its legal duty to protect its citizens – especially children and the young – from the effects of climate change.
The group is demanding that Sweden take action to limit global warming to 1.5C by cutting emissions and protecting ecosystems like forests. A third demand involves accounting for emissions that it says are currently excluded from government calculations such as burning imported biomass.
“Sweden, as a rich country with high historical and current emissions, has a legal duty to lead the climate transition,” the group wrote in its fundraiser . “A safe and just world is still possible, but only if rich, high-emitting states like Sweden stop violating their duty to protect people from the devastation of the climate crisis, and start transforming their societies before 2030.”
Thunberg and Aurora’s first attempt to sue Sweden into taking stronger action against climate change was quashed in February , when the country’s supreme court decreed it could not force the government to take action.
However, the Swedish court did not rule out that a differently formulated claim might have better success. In 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said that citizens can sue governments that fail to tackle climate change, on the grounds that their right to a private and family life could be violated by climate breakdown.
Civil groups have successfully sued their governments in the Netherlands , Belgium , Germany and Switzerland , forcing them to take more drastic measures to protect the environment.
Thunberg and campaigners at Aurora have so far raised more than £180k to fund their forthcoming lawsuit.
Fonte: Novara Media
