Sweden’s highest court rejects a climate lawsuit brought by activist Greta Thunberg and coalition 300 plaintiffs, the Aurora group, who sought to have government take stronger action against global warming.
The court in Stockholm rejected the verdict and in the lawsuit from 2022 claimed that Sweden was violating the European Convention on Human Rights by not doing enough to slow global warming. However, on Wednesday, the Supreme Court decided that it could not enforce that the government approve, stating, “Political bodies decide themselves, which particular climate actions Sweden should undertake.”
Even as it dismissed the lawsuit, the court recognized that a rephrased case might still be considered adequate. It made clear that future cases relating to the climate could look into whether individuals rights under the convention were breached but others go as far as to claim that they can dictate government policies. 
The Aurora sent Sweden to be the first, to limit the global warming to 1.5°C degrees. Their case was led after a 2023 landmark court ruling, in which the European Court of Human Rights ruled the Swiss government was responsible for not protecting citizens against climate change. A similar lawsuit, for example, by Portuguese juveniles against several European countries, has however been rejected.
Although a blow to Thunberg and other activists, the ruling spares the door for future lawsuits implicating climate inaction.
