CLIMATE CASE CLIMBS - The European Court of Human Rights has referred a climate case brought by six young people to its top-tier panel in a move that those involved in the case describe as “highly exceptional.” As Law.com International’s Linda A. Thompson reports, the decision, which was announced last week, means that the case challenging 33 countries’ climate policies will be heard by the 17-judge Grand Chamber of Europe’s highest human rights court. Only a “tiny” number of cases that raise questions of exceptional importance are referred to this chamber, according to a statement from the Global Legal Action Network, the nonprofit that is supporting the handful of Portuguese children and young adults who have brought the case. Filed in September 2020, Duarte Agostinho v. Portugal and Others, as the case is known, was the first climate case to be filed with Europe’s top human rights court. Its central argument is that the 33 countries have violated human rights by failing to take sufficient action on climate change.

WHAT YOU SAID

“You’ll never be criticized by someone who is doing more than you. You’ll always be criticized by someone doing less. Remember that.”