Hundreds of activists in Sweden, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, have filed a lawsuit against the Swedish government for what they say is insufficient climate action.
More than 600 young people under the age of 26 signed the 87-page document that is the basis for the lawsuit which was filed in the Stockholm District Court on Friday, November 25, 2022, seeking to determine that the country has violated its citizen’s human rights with its climate policies.
The Swedish government is being charged with lacklustre climate goals especially as scientists warn that chances are slipping away to limit future warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times.
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Negotiators at the recent U.N. climate conference in Egypt earlier this month tried to keep that goal alive but did not ratchet up calls for reducing carbon emissions.
In a report published earlier this week, the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute said the average temperature in Sweden had risen nearly 2 degrees Celsius since the late 1800s, twice as fast as the global average, snow cover now lasts two weeks, and precipitation has also increased.
“Sweden has never treated the climate crisis like a crisis. Sweden is failing in its responsibility and breaking the law,” said Anton Foley, spokesman of the youth-led initiative Aurora, which prepared and filed the lawsuit.
Another activist, Ida Edling, said that Sweden “is pursuing a climate policy the research is very clear will contribute to a climate disaster in the future.”
Story was adapted from AP.
