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CLIMATE CRISIS

Austrians, NGO bring climate suit to Europe rights court

Four Austrians and an NGO have taken the Austrian government to the European rights court for not doing enough to replace fossil fuels with clean energy, the group said Friday.

Published: 10 November 2023 16:04 CET
Austrians, NGO bring climate suit to Europe rights court
Austria's statistical agency says summer heatwaves were linked to higher death rates during hot weeks this summer. (Photo by CRISTINA QUICLER / AFP)

The move is part of a growing worldwide trend of organisations and individuals turning to courts to challenge what they see as government inaction on preventing climate change.

The complaint was submitted on behalf of four Austrian citizens who say they have been adversely affected by extreme weather events caused by climate change, and by Austrian NGO Global 2000, its spokesman Johannes Wahlmueller told AFP.

The lives of organic farmer Monika Jasansky, retiree Peter Fliegenschnee, Mayor Friedrich Pichler, and activist Klara Butz, have all been impacted by either drought, heatwaves or mudslides, said Wahlmueller.

The complaint was filed earlier this week at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), said Wahlmueller. Contacted by AFP, the ECHR said it hadn’t yet received the complaint. The suit was originally filed with Austria’s administrative court in 2021, but was rejected. In late June, Austria’s constitutional court also rejected the lawsuit, ruling that the government has leeway to decide on what measures it takes to achieve climate goals, as long as they are sufficient.

But according to the plaintiffs, the measures taken by the Austrian government will “miss the targets”, thus failing to protect its citizens. They call on the government to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy by 2040 at the latest. Earlier this year, an Austrian court rejected a lawsuit brought by 12 minors who accused the government of failing to revise a climate protection law, which they said insufficiently protects their constitutional rights.

Other lawsuits, including by six Portuguese citizens accusing dozens of European countries of having failed their commitments in the fight against climate change, have already been filed at the ECHR.

READ ALSO: Electrical storms end heatwave as Austria set for one of warmest years on record

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WEATHER

After mini tornado and floods should Austria expect a summer of extremes?

Extreme weather events have become more common and more dangerous worldwide. This week Austria experienced some of its own extreme weather with thunderstorms and even a 'small' tornado hitting the country.

Published: 22 May 2024 17:27 CEST
After mini tornado and floods should Austria expect a summer of extremes?

Heavy rainfall led to flooded cellars and muddy roads in Lower Austria on Tuesday afternoon.

In Styria, Graz residents recorded what seemed to be a tornado in the city (the head of the Styrian meteorological agency later confirmed a “small” tornado there), with large amounts of rainfall causing havoc.

Austria’s meteorological institute Geosphere Austria had already warned of thunderstorms, some of them heavy, moving north through the country—an alert that included the possibility of landslides and flooding. 

The warnings have been plentiful. Recently, experts alerted that global warming would make extreme weather events much more frequent and stronger, as The Local reported.

Summers, in particular, could see torrential downpours, hail storms as well as heat waves. 

Four heatwaves occurred in 2023, two of which lasted an unusually long time, lasting up to 18 days (July) and 16 days (August).

READ ALSO: How to protect yourself during storm season in Austria

So what about this summer?

There is nothing to indicate that people in Austria will have some relief this summer.

In fact, it has been a warmer than average year so far, with record temperatures throughout. According to Geosphere Austria, the recent winter was one of the two warmest on record.

February followed the trend, and it was the hottest in Austrian history. Parts of Austria also saw record heat in March, while there was “summer in April” in the Alpine country. GeoSphere Austria expects the country to be heading towards a hotter summer season also in 2024. 

Already in June, the probability of above-average temperatures is 60 percent.

In July, above-average temperatures will occur in about 60 percent of the cases. The probability of average temperatures is 20 percent, the same as the chance of below-average temperatures. 

The probability of above-average temperatures in August is just under 80 percent. Average temperatures occur in about a quarter of the cases, and the likelihood of below-average temperatures is less than 10 percent.

READ ALSO: What is Austria’s official emergency-warning phone app and do I need it?

The institute does point out that a seasonal forecast is not an exact forecast in the sense of a 3-day overview but a “rough estimate of the average temperatures conditions in the Eastern Alps”. 

It may seem counterintuitive to think that Austria could be heading for a summer of drought and heavy rains. Still, experts explain that the hotter temperatures make extreme events more likely.

And Austria is more affected by warming than the global average, mainly because it is located in the middle of the continent, and land masses warm up faster than oceans. 

Because of that, the Alpine Republic has already been 2C warmer on average over the last 30 years, almost twice as much as the global temperature increase compared to pre-industrial times.

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