The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has granted the climate lawsuit against Austria "priority status". This decision underlines the relevance of the issue and opens the door to a potentially landmark ruling. The claimant and his supporters, including the initiative CLAW and Fridays For Future Austria, are confident and pleased about the movement in this case. In contrast to these developments stands the decision of the Constitutional Court, which has once again rejected the children's climate lawsuit on formal grounds. Climate lawsuit against Austria before the ECHR: "I am truly overwhelmed by the importance that the ECHR has accorded to these proceedings. It is rare to be granted priority treatment, and for the Court to communicate this in a dedicated press release.", said climate lawyer Michaela Krömer and founder of the initiative CLAW.

The assignment of "high priority" status to the climate lawsuit against Austria was announced this morning in a press release. This classification accelerates the processing of the case and underlines its urgency. In addition, the ECHR takes the view that Mex's case could be one of fundamental importance. Such a classification is granted relatively rarely by the ECHR and highlights the significance of this forthcoming decision. As a next step, Austria's federal government must submit a statement and answer the Court's questions by 20 September.

"Around the world, we are seeing more and more climate lawsuits being filed and won. Since the ruling on the Swiss climate case, we have it in black and white that climate protection is our enforceable human right. We are hoping for a ruling from the ECHR that will hold the Austrian federal government accountable for its failure to act on climate protection.", says Laila Kriechbaum from Fridays For Future Austria…

Read the press release on this.