The Future of European Climate Change Litigation

Overview & Synopsis

On 7 June 2022 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) relinquished jurisdiction to the Grand Chamber to hear the application lodged on 28 January 2021 on behalf of Damien Carême, former mayor of the Commune of Grande Synthe in France on the basis of Articles 2 and 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). This application involves the 10th climate case for which the ECtHR has been called upon in recent months. The Câreme case is interesting in several respects. While it shares some characteristics with other climate change affairs, it differs in some key respects, making it a unique case of its kind at the moment. Like other climate applications before the ECtHR (Swiss and Danish cases), the Carême application is a continuation of a climate case presented before national courts – in this case, the French Administrative High Court Conseil d’Etat (CE). However, it has an original feature, since it is presented personally by Mr Carême, given that his individual application had been rejected by the French CE in the Grande Synthe case for lack of interest in acting. The CE had accepted the arguments based on the interest to act of the municipality of Grande Synthe, the municipalities of Grenoble and Paris, as well as various NGOs, but had rejected the individual conclusions of Mr. Carême. The CE also did not accept the applicant’s conclusions concerning conventional articles 2 and 8.