EUROPE’S highest court of human rights ruled today that countries must better protect their people from the consequences of climate change.

The European Court of Human Rights decision sides with a group of Swiss women against their government in a landmark ruling that could have implications across the continent.

The court said Switzerland had failed to comply with its duties to combat climate change and meet emissions targets.

That, the court said, was a violation of the women’s rights, noting that the European Convention on Human Rights guarantees people “effective protection by the state authorities from the serious adverse effects of climate change on their lives, health, wellbeing and quality of life.”

The Strasbourg court rejected two other, similar cases on procedural grounds — a high-profile one brought by Portuguese young people and another by a French mayor that sought to force governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But the Swiss case, nonetheless, sets a legal precedent in the Council of Europe’s 46 member states against which future lawsuits will be judged.

A group called Senior Women for Climate Protection argued that they were particularly affected because older women are most vulnerable to the more frequent extreme heat.

Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg joined activists celebrating at the court.

Anne Mahrer, a member of the group, said: “The court recognised our fundamental right to a healthy climate and to have our country do what it has failed to do until now: take ambitious measures to protect our health and protect the future of all.”

Another member, Rosemarie Wydler-Walti, said: “We still can’t really believe it. We keep asking our lawyers, ‘is that right?’”

Swiss President Viola Amherd told a news conference that she needed to read the judgement in detail before commenting.

Corina Heri, an expert in climate change litigation at the University of Zurich, said the ruling would open the door to more legal challenges in the countries that are members of the Council of Europe, which includes the 27 EU nations as well as many others, including Britain and Turkey.

The ruling comes following Monday’s report that last month was the hottest March on record.

The European Union’s Copernicus agency said this was the 10th consecutive month that the planet had broken a monthly heat record.

Data from the agency showed March 2024 averaged 14.14°C (57.9°F), exceeding the previous record from 2016 by a tenth of a degree.