CNN —The European Court of Human Rights will hear an “unprecedented” lawsuit on Wednesday, brought by six young people against 32 European countries accusing them of failing to tackle the human-caused climate crisis. It is the first climate case to be filed with the European Court of Human Rights and is the largest of a total of three climate lawsuits the court is hearing. If it passes procedural hurdles, the court could rule that states do not have human rights obligations when it comes to climate change. “That could be very damaging to other similar cases,” said Michael B. Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School. Climate litigation is an important tool, said Catherine Higham, coordinator of the Climate Change Laws of the World project at the London School of Economics.

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Persons: David, ”, Gearóid Ó Cuinn, “, Catarina Mota, Mota, Cláudia Duarte Agostinho, Pablo Blazquez Dominguez, André dos Santos, –, Martim Duarte, Cláudia Duarte, Mariana Duarte, Marcelo Engenheiro, Michael B, Gerrard, ” Ó Cuinn, ” Gerrard, Gerry Liston, Liston, Catherine Higham Organizations: CNN, European, of Human, Global, Getty, Union, Sabin, Climate, Columbia Law School, London School of Economics, United Nations Locations: Portugal, GLAN, Pedrogao Grande, Leiria district, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Greece –, Europe, Dubai