Climate activist Greta Thunberg, along with 600 other Swedish young people, have sued the Swedish state over an alleged lack of action on climate change.
The lawsuit was announced to be put forward at the Stockholm district court on Friday by a group called Aurora which is behind the legal action.
“There has never been such a large-scale case in the Swedish legal system,” said Ida Edling, one of the group’s members according to AFP news agency.
“If we win, there will be a verdict that says the Swedish state is required to do its share of the global measures needed for the world to meet the 1.5-degree target.”
Though this move is the first of its kind in Swedish courts, Sweden and 33 other countries including Ireland were previously taken the the European Court of Human Rights by six young people from Portugal, who accused the nations of failing to properly address climate change.
In that instance, it is Irish lawyers representing the Portuguese activists in court.
Irish lawyers represent Portuguese climate case at ECHR https://t.co/tqWsdvLnaZ via @rte
— Colm O'Gorman (@Colmogorman) August 23, 2022
Earlier this month Ireland’s Green Party Climate Minister Eamon Ryan said that the public can sue ministers over missed climate targets, saying “We would see citizens taking action.”
Climate Minister Eamon Ryan says that the public can sue ministers over missed climate targets.#gripthttps://t.co/wX6G4MDviM
— gript (@griptmedia) November 14, 2022
“The law says that already — we’ve a very strong law,” he added, referring to the Climate Action Act 2021, which his party spearheaded.