For immediate release: 5 December 2022
Contacts:
Oxfam, Karelia Pallan, +1 202 329 8283, karelia.pallan@oxfam.org
Our Children’s Trust, Kelly Matheson +31 6 39 35 65 27, kelly@ourchildrenstrust.org, Erin
Barnhart, +1 541 653 7597, erin@ourchildrenstrust.org
Centre for Child Law - University of Pretoria, Liesl Muller, +27 12 420 4502
liesl.muller@up.ac.za
Global Organisations Provide Evidence to European Court of Human Rights: 1.5°C Climate
Target Too Weak on Human Rights
Oxfam, Our Children’s Trust, and the Centre for Child Law, University of Pretoria among groups
submitting Third Party Interventions providing expertise on critical climate science for threehistoric court cases
Today, several leading global climate and human rights organisations, including Oxfam, Our
Children’s Trust, and the Centre for Child Law, based at the University of Pretoria, submitted
Third Party Interventions to the European Court of Human Rights in the Grand Chamber’s firstever climate-related cases: Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland, Duarte
Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and Others, and Carême v. France.
The co-intervenors submitted key scientific evidence that underscores the intertwined
relationship between climate change and the violation of human rights, including:----

The current level of planetary heating, ~1.1°C–1.3°C, is unsafe for individuals andcommunities across the globe, violating their human rights to life and to a private andfamily life;
The temperature targets set forth in the 2015 Paris Agreement aiming to limit global
heating to 1.5°C–2.0°C above pre-industrial temperatures are wholly unprotective ofhuman rights and are inadequate to measure if the world is successfully mitigating theclimate crisis;The appropriate and accurate scientific standard for climate mitigation must be stabilizing
the Earth Energy Imbalance (EEI) by limiting the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) inthe atmosphere to 350 parts per million (ppm); andPathways to reduce atmospheric CO2 to 350 ppm as soon as possible are currently
available, feasible, and beneficial to implement.

“The importance of this Court’s findings and remedies in the trio of climate cases before it cannot
be overstated,” said Karabo Ozah, Centre for Child Law Director. “While the Court’s decisions arealways consequential for the parties involved, its determinations in these climate cases will be
profoundly consequential for all of humanity, especially children.”“It is critical that the Court rely on the expertise of climate scientists rather than on politicalcompromises such as the temperature targets specified in the Paris Agreement as it considers
the human rights impact of the climate crisis for the first time,” said Kelly Matheson, Deputy
Director of Global Climate Litigation at Our Children’s Trust. “The scientific evidence submitted
through our interventions today will provide the Court with a solid evidential basis to find that aclimate system capable of protecting human life, health, and well-being is fundamental to upholdthe universal rights to life, privacy, family, and home promised by the European Convention on
Human Rights.”“Even though current global warming is already resulting in massive violations of human rights,
governments continue to delay action based on a premise that we can allow global temperature
to rise further,” said Evelien van Roemburg, Head of Oxfam’s European Union office. “The Court
should decide that states must immediately take every feasible step to reduce warming now,rather than accept plans premised on an imaginary carbon budget.”Today’s interventions were filed in relation to the following cases before the Court:•Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland: An organization of senior
women filed an application to the Court against Switzerland for its role in causing theclimate crisis, thereby leading to more frequent and severe heatwaves that threaten their
human rights to life, home and privacy. Visit this link for more information.

•Carême v. France: The mayor of Grande-Synthe, France appealed a decision made by theFrench Council of State that he did not have an individual interest in a climate case filed
on behalf of himself and the city of Grande-Synthe. According to the mayor, the Frenchgovernment’s failure to address climate change threatens his human rights as ahomeowner in a coastal region of France that is highly likely to experience flooding by
2040 due to climate change. Visit this link for more information.

•Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and Others: Six young Portuguese citizens filed
an application to the Court against 33 Member States of the Council of Europe forviolating their human rights to life, privacy, family, and home by failing to take adequate
action to address climate change. They are asking the Court to issue an order demandingthat the 33 States take more ambitious action in line with the gravity and urgency of theclimate crisis. Visit this link for more information.
###The Centre for Child Law (Centre) is a children’s rights strategic impact litigation organisation thatis registered as a law clinic with the Legal Practice Council, based at the University of Pretoria,
South Africa. The Centre contributes to establishing and protecting children’s rights throughstrategic impact litigation, participation in legislative and policy reform, advocacy, research,capacity building of relevant stakeholders and contributing to the body of knowledge on childlaw. www.centreforchildlaw.co.za
Our Children’s Trust is the world’s only nonprofit public interest law firm that exclusively provides
strategic, campaign-based legal services to youth from diverse backgrounds to secure their legal
rights to a safe climate. We work to protect the Earth’s climate system for present and future
generations by representing young people in global legal efforts to secure their binding andenforceable legal rights to a healthy atmosphere and safe climate, based on the best available
science. Our Children’s Trust represents and supports young people in global and U.S. federal andstate climate litigation including Held v. State of Montana, which will be the first constitutional
climate trial in U.S. history when it begins in June 2023, and the landmark case Juliana v. UnitedStates, where the youth plaintiffs are currently awaiting a decision that could put them back on
the path to trial. www.ourchildrenstrust.org
Oxfam is a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice. We offer
lifesaving support in times of crisis and advocate for economic justice, gender equality, andclimate action. We demand equal rights and equal treatment so that everyone can thrive, notjust survive. Oxfam has been fighting for decades to protect the human rights and livelihoods ofpeople most affected by the climate crisis, provide support when climate disasters strike,advocate that governments proactively protect their populations from climate change, andensure that the people and corporations who harm the planet are held accountable.
www.oxfam.org