Ecodefense sues Russia at European court over worsening climate crisis

Activists are asking the European Court of Human Rights to find Russia responsible for causing a “climate catastrophe.” They say Moscow’s war in Ukraine is contributing to rising greenhouse gas emissions.

The organization Ecodefense has asked the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to expedite consideration of its lawsuit against Russia, whose actions it says are worsening the global climate crisis and thereby violating human rights. The court rejected the request last week, however, meaning the proceedings could take a long time, Euractiv reported.

The Russian environmental group Ecodefense and 18 individuals filed the lawsuit last August, hoping the court would expedite its consideration, as it did in the case against Switzerland and two other climate-related cases being heard concurrently.

They filed the lawsuit with the European Court of Human Rights after first trying to bring it before Russia’s Supreme Court, which refused to hear it.

Russia ignores the climate

"Russia is killing the climate," Ecodefense co-chair Vladimir Slivyak said in a recent interview with AFP in Geneva.

He stressed that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the Paris climate agreement in 2015, which set a goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and accused Russia of failing to curb greenhouse gas emissions or reduce fossil fuel production.

Instead, he said, internal political documents show that Russia plans to increase coal, oil and gas production for at least the next decade.

"In some scenarios, by as much as 50 percent," Slivyak said.

War drives emissions

Slivyak, who left Russia in 2021 amid a crackdown on civil society ahead of parliamentary elections, said Russia’s rising emissions are closely linked to the war in Ukraine.

Although official statistics are unavailable, he said that “there must be a major increase in greenhouse gas emissions during the war,” driven by additional production lines for tanks and weapons, as well as emissions from their use.

"We want the court to rule that Russian policy... is dangerous for the climate and the world," Slivyak said.

And his goal may not be unattainable. In a landmark ruling in April, the Strasbourg-based ECHR found that Switzerland was not doing enough to address climate change. The court could use its recent ruling to prompt governments to adopt more ambitious climate policies.

The situation in Russia is far worse, according to Slivyak.

"It’s not that we’re not doing enough, but that we’re actually killing the climate," he said in the interview, adding that Russia is "undermining international efforts".

While other countries have invested in innovation and technology, "there is a country, the largest on Earth by area, that thinks it can ignore everyone else".