The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Switzerland's government had not done enough to combat climate change.
The court sided with a group of elderly women who said that their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves as a result of global warming.
The Swiss women, called KlimaSeniorinnen or Senior Women for Climate Protection, argued that they cannot leave their homes during heatwaves in the country, out of fears their health will suffer.
This is the first time the court has ruled on climate change.
European human rights court makes unprecedented ruling as it blames Switzerland for climate change, siding with a group of elderly womenReutersThe court said the country's efforts to reduce emissions had been inadequate.
The European Union, which does not include Switzerland, currently has a target to be climate-neutral by 2050.
Whilst judgments from the court are not legally binding, they set a legal precedent against which future lawsuits will be judged.
Court President Siofra O'Leary said the Swiss government had failed to install sufficient policies to tackle climate change, which violated the human right to private and family life.
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The women said that their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves
Reuters
"This included a failure to quantify, through a carbon budget or otherwise, national greenhouse gas emissions limitations," O'Leary told the courtroom.
Global civic movement Avaaz said the court's ruling had turned a new leaf in climate law.
"The Swiss ruling sets a crucial legally binding precedent serving as a blueprint for how to successfully sue your own government over climate failures," said Ruth Delbaere, legal campaigns director at Avaaz.
Joie Chowdhury, an attorney at the Centre for International Environmental Law campaign group, said the ruling showed that the climate crisis was a human rights crisis too. She said: "We expect this ruling to influence climate action and climate litigation across Europe and far beyond."
Siofra O'Leary, ECHR Court President, speaks during the verdict on three climate cases
Reuters
Data released today shows that last month was the world's warmest March on record, extending the run of monthly temperature records to 10 in a row.
Despite the success of KlimaSeniorinnen's plight, the court had previously thrown out two other similar cases.
The first was brought by six Portuguese youths against 32 European governments and the second by a former French mayor against the French government.
Both had argued that European governments had violated their rights by failing to deal with climate change.