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Who are the elderly Swiss women behind the landmark climate court case win?

The European Court of Human Rights ( ECtHR) on Tuesday ruled in favour of a group of senior Swiss ladies who said their federal government's insufficient efforts to fight environment change put them at danger of passing away throughout heatwaves.

Here is some info about this group:

WHO ARE THE KLIMASENIORINNEN?

The association of Swiss females, referred to as KlimaSeniorinnen, has more than 2,500 members. Throughout its legal fight, it said it was seeking females aged 64 and older living in Switzerland-- because women over 75 are particularly at danger.

The group receives support from Greenpeace Switzerland, which guaranteed the costs of the legal initiative.

The Swiss ladies stated Bern breached their right to life by failing to cut emissions in line with a path that restricts worldwide warming to 1.5 C (2.7 F) to fend off the most extreme consequences of temperature change.

Their case pointed out a U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that discovered women and older adults were among those at greatest danger of temperature-related deaths during heatwaves. Bruna Molinari, who remains in her eighties and struggles with asthma, was amongst the ladies who delivered their claim to the European Court of Human being Rights in 2015.

As a granny and mom, I think they deserve to have an environment that is much better than the one we have, she said at the time, having a hard time to repress her cough.

HOW DID THE GROUP TYPE?

The association held its inaugural conference in August 2016, when it had just 40 members.

As increasingly more females signed up with the group, it started to make its legal claims at the nationwide level, sending legal requests to Switzerland's Federal Council, among other entities, in November 2016.

When the Federal Supreme Court dismissed their case in 2020, they announced strategies to turn to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.

HOW IS SWITZERLAND DEALING WITH ENVIRONMENT CHANGE?

Switzerland is warming at more than twice the global rate and its glaciers are melting quick. Bern described a plan to make deeper emissions cuts but voters rebuffed it in 2021 because it was viewed as too challenging.

The Swiss justice ministry has actually explained the European Court of Human being Rights' judgment as last and said it needs to be implemented.

Together with the authorities concerned, we will now analyse the substantial judgment and review what procedures Switzerland will take in the future, it said, without elaborating.

A spokesperson for the Swiss Energy Ministry responded to the judgment by stating: We're on a good path. We're doing a lot.

WHAT DOES THE JUDGMENT MEAN?

The decision, which can not be appealed, could oblige the Swiss federal government to take higher action on decreasing emissions, including revising its 2030 emissions reductions targets to get in line with the Paris Arrangement objective of restricting warming to 1.5 C.

(source: Reuters)