In 2024, the European Court of Justice delivered a verdict that gave the organization Verein Klimaseniorinnen the right against the Swiss state.
The association, consisting of elderly women, claimed that Switzerland was not doing enough to stop climate change, whose effects lead to heatwaves that threaten their lives and health.
Clear difference
The year before, Swedish youths within the organization Aurora had filed their lawsuit, where around 300 people claimed that the state was doing too little to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
When this lawsuit was brought to the Nacka District Court, the quite groundbreaking verdict from the European Court of Justice against Switzerland had not been announced, says Justice of the Supreme Court Jonas Malmberg, one of the judges in the case in the Supreme Court.
The European Court of Justice made a clear distinction between whether individual persons or an organization were behind the lawsuit. For organizations, it is easier than for individuals. The principle is called "Actio popularis" in legal language, according to Malmberg.
We cannot have a system where anyone can come to a court and get it established that the state has done too little in terms of climate measures. Then anyone can get a review of democratically made decisions, he explains.
More cases may await
The Supreme Court has leaned on the European Court of Justice when it ruled on Wednesday that the Aurora case cannot be tried in a Swedish court. This is due, simplified, to the fact that individuals are behind the application, and that the application demands what the government and parliament should do. But the Supreme Court – or any other court – cannot decide that.
The Supreme Court is, however, clear that climate goals can be taken up in Swedish courts if they are formulated in a different way.
Looking internationally, there have been very many climate lawsuits that have been formulated in different ways in many countries. And there is reason to believe that we will see more of that even in Sweden, says Malmberg.
