Sweden’s Supreme Court Rejects Thunberg-Led Climate Lawsuit

Stockholm, Sweden, February 19, 2025 – Sweden’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a class action lawsuit, initiated by climate activist Greta Thunberg and 299 other plaintiffs, cannot proceed in its current form.

The lawsuit sought to compel the government to adopt stronger measures to combat climate change, arguing that Sweden’s actions fall short of protecting rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Filed in 2022 by the Aurora group, the case claimed that the state’s insufficient efforts to limit global warming violated individual human rights. After the district court referred the matter to the Supreme Court in 2023—following the state’s request for dismissal—the highest court clarified its position. “A court cannot decide that the parliament or the government must take any specific action. The political bodies decide independently on which specific climate measures Sweden should take,” the court stated.

The ruling noted that while a lawsuit formulated solely to assess whether individuals’ rights under the convention have been violated might be permissible, the current case’s objective of mandating particular state actions falls outside the judiciary’s remit. The plaintiffs had aimed to force Sweden to implement measures to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, a target recognized internationally.

This decision adds to a series of mixed outcomes in climate-related litigation across Europe. Last year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Swiss government had breached citizens’ rights by not doing enough to address climate change, while dismissing similar claims in other cases on procedural grounds.

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