Soubeste and Others v. Austria and 11 Other States

Summary:

Five young European citizens allege that their right to life, right to be free of inhuman or degrading treatment, right to respect for their private and family life and right not to be subjected to discrimination have been adversely affected by extreme meteorological events which are directly linked to climate change and the consequences of which they have personally experienced. They contend, in particular, that the climate change that affects them is driven, to a large extent, by fossil energy industry and that the 1994 Energy Charter Treaty (ECT), ratified by all twelve Respondent States, protects investors in that sector from regulatory changes and gives them access to exorbitant remedies through investor-State dispute settlement mechanisms, thereby inhibiting the Respondent States from taking immediate measures against climate change and making it impossible for them to attain goals enshrined in Article 2 of the 2015 Paris Agreement.

At Issue: Whether rights of young citizens have been affected by climate change due to the Energy Charter Treaty.