Swedish Supreme Court says activists can not sue state over climate action

Stockholm: Sweden's Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that Greta Thunberg and hundreds of other young activists can not sue the state in a Swedish court over what they say is insufficient action against climate change.

Activists filed a class action lawsuit in 2022 with a district court claiming the state violates their rights as laid out in the European Convention on Human Rights by not doing enough to limit climate change, nor to mitigate its effects.

The district court in 2023 asked the Supreme Court to clarify whether a lawsuit of this kind can effectively be tried in a Swedish court, after the state requested the case be dismissed.

"A court cannot decide that the Riksdag or the government must take any specific action. The political bodies decide independently on which specific climate measures Sweden should take," the Supreme Court said in a statement on Wednesday.

The currently around 300 plaintiffs, which call themselves the Aurora group, wanted the district court to order Sweden to do more to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.