BERLIN — A dozen minors filed a lawsuit with Austria’s prime courtroom Tuesday searching for to pressure the federal government to make sure their constitutional rights are protected by taking harder motion towards local weather change.
A lawyer for the group stated the case submitted to the Constitutional Court docket is modeled on an identical lawsuit in Germany that prompted the federal government there to set new targets for decreasing greenhouse fuel emissions two years in the past.
Their lawyer Michaela Kroemer says Austria’s local weather legislation from 2011 doesn’t sufficiently defend the plaintiffs, aged 5 to 16, from the life-threatening penalties of world warming. Particularly, she stated the youngsters’s proper to “generational justice” — assured within the Austrian structure — is breached by the Alpine nation’s local weather legislation.
Kroemer stated the lawsuit is backed by the youth local weather group Fridays for Future — which was impressed by Swedish activist Greta Thunberg — and financially supported by philanthropic donations.