Can human rights be a weapon in climate action?

Egle Küngas, a master's student at the University of Tartu and expert in environmental justice, analyzes how human rights are becoming a tool for fighting the climate crisis. She cites as an example the European Court of Human Rights decision in KlimaSeniorinnen vs Switzerland, where elderly Swiss women won a case against their country on the issue of climate protection.

Climate justice and human rights have so far seemed like two separate paths. One speaks of ecosystems and carbon emissions, the other of civil liberties and protection from repression. Yet one court case that took place in Switzerland has clearly brought these paths together.

A few years ago, retired Swiss women filed a complaint against their country that went down in history as KlimaSeniorinnen vs Switzerland. Their argument was not scientific, but deeply personal: increasingly frequent heat waves pose a direct threat to their lives and health. The complaint was not based on environmental protection clauses, but on violations of human rights. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of the elderly women and ordered Switzerland to take more effective steps to cope with climate change.

Egle Küngas, a master's student at the University of Tartu and expert in environmental justice, believes that this court case fundamentally changes our understanding of human rights. Human rights are no longer merely protection against tyranny — they are becoming an active tool with which to compel states to take the consequences of the climate crisis seriously.

Küngas emphasizes that the climate seniors case is not an isolated incident. Courts around the world have begun to recognize the connection between environmental conditions and human rights protection. This means that climate activism gains a new, legally binding dimension — states must be accountable not only to nature, but also to human health and life.

From the perspective of environmental justice, this development is significant. When climate protection becomes a matter of human rights, states' legal responsibility also grows. Küngas believes that the Swiss precedent could inspire similar court cases in other countries — and with that, climate action becomes even more concrete and personal.