Environmental activist Greta Thunberg sues her native Sweden for failing on climate change
- The lawsuit is part of an international wave of climate-related legal action, some of it targeting national governments
- Thunberg and 600 others claim Sweden’s climate policies violate its constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights
A group of children and young adults including Greta Thunberg have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Swedish state for failing to take adequate measures to stop climate change.
The lawsuit is part of an international wave of climate-related legal action, some of it targeting national governments.
It follows a high-profile case in the Netherlands, where the country’s highest court ruled in 2019 that the government had a legal obligation to take action to mitigate global warming.
The Swedish suit involves Thunberg, possibly the world’s best known climate activist, and more than 600 others who claim that Sweden’s climate policies violate its constitution as well as the European Convention on Human Rights.
“The Swedish state fails to meet the constitutional requirement to promote sustainable development leading to a good environment for present and future generations,” the group said in a statement.
In 2017, Sweden adopted a climate law that requires the government to work to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases toward a net-zero target set for 2045.