The European Court of Human Rights has ruled as inadmissible a case brought by six Portuguese youths attempting to force 32 European governments to take more ambitious action to fight climate change.
The ruling cannot be appealed.
The claim may be referred back to a national court.
Earlier, an Irish lawyer who helped the six bring their action said it was taken on to “supercharge” domestic litigation on the climate change issue.
Director at Galway’s Global Legal Action Network Gearóid Ó Cuinn said the young people involved have had direct experience of climate impacts.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said “this has a massive impact on both their physical but also their mental well-being.”
Mr Ó Cuinn said the “court will be presented with a unique and the first opportunity to address the climate crisis, which ultimately is the greatest threat to everyone’s basic human rights.”
The ECHR has ruled in favour of a group of Swiss elderly women suing their government for alleged “woefully inadequate” efforts to fight climate change, agreeing that their government had violated some human rights by missing paste missions reduction targets.
The ruling cannot be appealed.
It ruled as inadmissible a case brought by a former French mayor, who had sought to force the government to do more to fight climate change.
