Climate group sues Czech government over alleged failure to meet Paris Agreement

Last Wednesday, the Klimatická žaloba (Climate Lawsuit) association filed an administrative lawsuit with the Prague Municipal Court against the Czech government and several of its ministries. According to the lawsuit, the state is not taking sufficient steps to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and is therefore not doing enough to combat climate change. According to the association’s representatives, the aim of the lawsuit is to compel the government to introduce additional measures.

The lawsuit, whose preparation our site had previously reported on, was filed by six claimants led by the Klimatická žaloba association and the municipality of Svatý Jan pod Skalou. The lawsuit was supported by expert assessments from foreign organisations including Climate Analytics and the University of Manchester. According to them, the Czech Republic’s energy and climate plans are inadequate, meaning that the adverse impacts of climate change on Czech residents will intensify.

Can courts rule on government action?

An administrative lawsuit is a legitimate legal remedy through which natural and legal persons can seek to have an administrative authority act, or refrain from acting, in a particular matter. An administrative lawsuit is a more direct and entirely legal means of seeking fulfilment of certain state obligations than, for example, elections.

The role of courts in deciding whether a state authority is doing enough, or not enough, to pursue certain policies is a natural consequence of the principle of separation of powers, a fundamental principle of the rule of law. Under this principle, it is the administrative court system that is to oversee the proper functioning of the executive branch, namely the government.

Success of lawsuits abroad

The Klimatická žaloba association, which worked on the text of the lawsuit together with lawyers for more than a year, drew inspiration from abroad. Several hundred lawsuits have already been filed in other countries against states allegedly not doing enough to combat climate change.

For example, the frequently cited ruling in the Dutch Urgenda case, issued by the Dutch Supreme Court, ordered the local government in 2019 to raise its national greenhouse gas emissions reduction target. A French ruling from February this year found that France bears shared responsibility for global climate change and is failing in its measures to address it.

Violation of human rights and obligations under the Paris Agreement

The Czech lawsuit argues that the government has not only failed to adopt sufficient measures, but is actually continuing to contribute to climate change. In doing so, the state administration is breaching its obligations under both the Czech legal order and international commitments, above all the Paris Agreement. The association’s ideal outcome would be for the court to order the state to remedy the situation. The Prague Municipal Court is expected to rule on the case, ideally this year or next year.