Legal action has been taken against the Swedish government by a group of children and young adults led by conspiracy theorist Greta Thunberg for failing to take appropriate steps to combat “climate change.”
On Friday, hundreds of activists, led by Greta Thunberg, marched through the Swedish capital to a Stockholm district court to sue the government for allegedly not doing enough to address climate change, NBC reported.
The 87-page document filed with the Stockholm District Court was signed by over 600 people under the age of 26 who are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The group argued that Sweden’s climate policies violate its constitution as well as the European Convention on Human Rights.
“The Swedish state has never treated the climate crisis as the crisis it is, and the new government has clearly signaled that it won’t do that either,” said Anton Foley, a member of Aurora who prepared and filed the lawsuit. “Sweden is failing in its responsibility and breaking the law.”
“The Swedish state fails to meet the constitutional requirement to promote sustainable development leading to a good environment for present and future generations,” the group said in a statement.
Bloomberg reported:
In 2017, Sweden adopted a climate law that requires the government to work to reduce emissions of planet-warming gases toward a net-zero target set for 2045.
Cutting greenhouse gas emissions is key to meeting the 2015 Paris Agreement target of keeping global warming below 2C by the end of the century.
However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February triggered a scramble for energy that’s set back efforts and this year’s UN-sponsored climate talks in Egypt failed to step up ambitions.
In an interview with Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, Thunberg said she believes climate laws should be tightened.
“We don’t have laws that provide long-term protection from the consequences of climate and environmental crises, but we need to use the methods at our disposal and do everything we can,” she said.
The lawsuit, which has been in the works for two years, comes as the new Swedish government’s policies on climate change face intense scrutiny.