The court is not expected to rule on the case until early 2024, Reuters reported. To win, the plaintiffs need “to convince judges that they have been sufficiently affected to be considered as victims,” AP reported. During Wednesday’s proceedings, one judge asked plaintiffs “to provide more details about how their quality of life has been affected,” AP reported. Some of the young people suing claimed in their complaint that they currently suffer from “reduced energy levels, difficulty sleeping, and a curtailment of their ability to spend time or exercise outdoors during recent heatwaves.”
“Due to heat extremes, I’m limited in how I exercise and how much time I can spend outdoors,” Andre Oliveira, a 15-year-old among those suing, said outside court Wednesday, according to Reuters. “I’m forced to stay inside, I struggle to sleep, and thanks to the weak climate policies of these governments, things are getting worse.”
Governments deny young people are victims
On Wednesday, the director of the European Commission legal service, Daniel Calleja Crespo, tried to push back on claims that countries weren’t taking climate change seriously, arguing that “the EU is going beyond the obligations of the Paris Agreement,” which aims for under 2° C warming.
However, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, Gerry Liston, told the court that there’s evidence that governments have not done enough to comply with the Paris Agreement.
“We have put forward evidence before the court that all of the respondents’ state climate policies are aligned to 3° (Celsius) of warming within the lifetime of the applicants, or in the case of some states, worse than that,” Liston said. “No state has put forward evidence to counter that position.”