FRA and European courts highlight climate change as a human rights issue

FRA and European courts highlight climate change as a human rights issue

Published December 23, 2025

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) have published a joint thematic factsheet examining climate change through the lens of EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights.

The factsheet provides a consolidated overview of how climate change increasingly engages fundamental rights protections. It explains how EU law and the Convention intersect and where their approaches converge, offering clarity for national authorities, courts, and oversight bodies.

The publication outlines recent case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Human Rights on the 9^th April 2025. These cases address the human rights risks arising from climate change, including impacts on private and family life, access to information, access to justice, and the freedom to conduct a business. The factsheet also highlights the procedural obligations on states to ensure transparency, effective remedies, and public participation in climate related decision making.

A significant focus is placed on the three landmark climate change judgments delivered by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights. These rulings confirm that climate change can fall within the scope of Convention rights and that states have positive obligations to put in place effective regulatory frameworks to mitigate and adapt to climate risks. The Court also clarified admissibility criteria, standing, and the importance of exhausting domestic remedies.

The factsheet situates this jurisprudence within the broader EU legal framework, including the European Green Deal and the European Climate Law, which commit the European Union to climate neutrality by 2050. It underlines that environmental protection and climate action are now firmly embedded in EU objectives and must be implemented in a manner consistent with fundamental rights standards.

These developments reflect a growing recognition at European level that climate change is not only an environmental concern but also a matter of justice and human rights protection.

In this context, the Parliamentary Ombudsman of Malta, Judge Joseph Zammit McKeon, recently participated as a panellist in a public event organised by the European Law Students’ Association Malta to mark ELSA Day. The discussion focused on justice in the age of a climate crisis.

During the event, Judge Zammit McKeon stated that climate change is fundamentally a matter of justice and universal fundamental rights. He referred to rights such as the right to life, health, water, adequate housing, and food, stressing that climate change has no borders and affects all communities.

He noted that international and European legal frameworks are already in place, particularly within the European Union, to guide states in adopting measures that promote clean, healthy, and sustainable development. He emphasised the importance of effective national implementation and oversight to ensure that these frameworks deliver real protection.

Judge Zammit McKeon also referred to the recent climate change judgments of the European Court of Human Rights and highlighted the advisory opinion issued in July 2025 by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal obligations of states in respect of climate change. In that opinion, the Court recognised climate change as an urgent and existential threat to humanity, grounded in scientific evidence.

The joint factsheet reinforces the role of independent institutions, including ombudsman offices, in safeguarding fundamental rights in the context of climate change. It also underscores the growing responsibility of public authorities to act transparently, lawfully, and accountably when addressing climate related risks.