A Sud et al. v. Italy

Date of Application:	Sat, 05 Jun 2021
Date of Decision:	Mon, 26 Feb 2024
Decision Making Body:	Civil Court of Rome
Law Applied:	Aarhus Convention European Convention on Human Rights Italian Civil Code Paris Agreement
Keywords:	Suits against governments;, GHG emissions reduction and trading, CBDR-RC, Separation of powers

A SUD and others v Italy [2021] (Civil Court of Rome), 340.

At Issue: Whether the Italian government is violating fundamental rights through its inaction on the climate emergency.

Summary:

On June 5, 2021, environmental justice NGO A Sud and more than 200 plaintiffs filed suit alleging that the Italian government, by failing to take actions necessary to meet Paris Agreement temperature targets, is violating fundamental rights, including the right to a stable and safe climate. The action, part of a campaign called Giudizio Universale (The Last Judgment), seeks a declaration that the government's inaction is contributing to the climate emergency and a court order to reduce emissions 92% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. According to an executive summary of the claim released by the plaintiffs, the government's climate obligations stem from the Paris Agreement, EU regulations, and IPCC reports. The human right to a stable and safe climate is based on guarantees in Article 6 of the Treaty of the European Union (guarantee of fundamental rights), and Articles 2 (right to life) and 8 (right to privacy) of the European Convention on Human Rights, among others. These rights violations give rise to non-contractual liability of the Italian government under Article 2043 of the Italian Civil Code.

On December 14, 2021, the first hearing was held before the Civil Court of Rome in the form of written notes. In its reply, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, represented by the “Avvocatura Generale dello Stato” (state lawyers), requested the Court to declare the complaint inadmissible and, in any case, to dismiss the applicants’ claims on the merits. On the matter of fact, the reply describes in depth the State’s policies and endeavours on climate change. On the matter of law, the reply deals with: (i) the absence of jurisdiction of the civil judge over activities pertaining to the legislative and executive powers of the State; (ii) the lack of standing rights of the applicants; (iii) the impossibility of placing an individual responsibility on the Italian State for climate change and its impact.

The applicants sent their rebuttal notes on January 14, 2022. The second hearing (the first oral hearing) was held on 21 June 2022. The parties presented their legal arguments before the judge. The judge scheduled the next hearing for September 13, 2023.

Following the final hearing on 13 September 2023, the Judge of the Second Civil Section of the Court of Rome requested the parties' closing statements and proceeded with the ruling.

In its judgment of February 26, 2024, the Court declared the claims inadmissible for absolute lack of jurisdiction (‘difetto assoluto di giurisdizione’).

The Court applied the principle of separation of powers and the related case law. The Court pointed out that the claim entails a review of the sphere of powers that the Constitution reserves to the legislature.

In the Court's opinion, "the interest for which compensation is claimed under Articles 2043 and 2051 of the Italian Civil Code does not fall within the category of legally protected subjective interests, since decisions relating to the methods and timescales for managing the phenomenon of anthropogenic climate change – which involve discretionary socio-economic assessments and in terms of cost-benefit in the various sectors of human life – fall within the sphere of attribution of the political bodies and cannot be sanctioned in the present proceedings. With the proposed civil action, the plaintiffs essentially ask the Court to annul the measures, including primary and secondary regulatory measures (...) that constitute the implementation of the political choices of the legislature and the government for the achievement of the objectives assumed at international and European level (in the short and long term) in violation of a cardinal principle of the order represented by the principle of separation of powers" (unofficial English translation, p. 12 of the judgment).

A Sud appealed the court ruling, but a new ruling will not be made until October 21, 2026.

 

A Sud et al. v. Italy - The Climate Litigation Database

Summary provided courtesy of the Sabin Centre 

 

Court documents:

Summons (Automated English translation)

Judgment in Italian

Related CRC articles

• 2. Right to non-discrimination (CRC Article 2)
• 6. Right to life, survival and development (CRC Article 6)
• 24. Right to health, healthcare, and a healthy environment (CRC Article 24)
• 27. Right to an adequate standard of living (CRC Article 27)

In the summons: (Automated English translation)

V.20 Finally, the prohibition of discrimination laid down in Article 14 ECHR is relevant in this case in conjunction with Articles 2 and 8 ECHR. A recent climate case brought before the ECHR - Duarte Agostinho et al v. 33 States" (app. no. 369371/20) - invoked, in addition to Articles 2 and 8, also Article 14 ECHR, which enshrines the prohibition of discrimination, highlighting the disproportionate impacts that climate change has on certain categories of people. With regard to children, it is pointed out that the discriminatory impact of the Italian State's climate inaction goes two ways. First, children are discriminated against as belonging, because of their age, to a group particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Secondly, children are also discriminated against because the Italian State's inaction on climate change shifts the burden and cost of the harmful consequences of such failures primarily onto them (see on this point the judgment of the German Constitutional Court in the Neubauer case and the Dutch Supreme Court in the Urgenda case, § 4.7).

4. Infringed rights ... Climate impacts threaten the most fundamental rights of the human person: the right to life, food, water, health, a healthy environment, adequate housing and property, self-determination in the use of natural resources, present and future, survival in living standards and human development.

The Italian State is obliged to protect the human right to a stable and safe climate, held by every human being, which is crucial and necessary for the enjoyment of all other fundamental rights "for the benefit of the present and future generations".

In addition, there are the provisions of the ECHR: the State is obliged to honour the positive obligations deriving from the Convention in countering the current climate emergency, in particular Art. 2 (right to life) and Art. 8 (respect for private and family life); as well as Art. 14 ECHR (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with the aforementioned articles, as interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights.

Cited CRC articles

• 24. Right to health, healthcare, and a healthy environment (CRC Article 24)

V.13 Other sources in Italy corroborate the represented assumption ... Among other things, ignoring the right to a stable and safe climate would also deprive the entire UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of its meaning, and the articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989, enforced in Italy by law no. 176/1989, are totally focused on the stability of the conditions of existence, present and future, of human beings in their journey through life.

Involvement of children in hearings

• Oral presentation
• Written presentation

The case involved consideration of the papers and one oral hearing. There is no evidence showing that children were involved in the hearing.

Intergenerational rights

 

Future generations

Summons (automated English translation):

5. Responsibility of the State ...The responsibility of the State can also be additionally identified according to other articles of the Civil Code. Inter alia, the State is the holder of the functional prerogatives to control and eliminate any increase in emissions and to influence human conduct within its territory: Italy, as a party to the UNFCCC, is legally bound to protect the climate system "for the present and future generations" and is therefore to be considered the guardian of the climate system, i.e. its own territory (by virtue of Article 2051 of the Civil Code).

Outcome of decision for the applicants

• Relief sought by applicants NOT granted

The matter is dismissed on preliminary grounds. The matter does not fall within the jurisdiction of the court because of the separation of powers doctrine.

Judgment (automatic English translation):

In these terms, the interest for which restitution protection is invoked under Articles 2043 and 2051 of the Civil Code does not fall within the realm of subjectively protected legal interests, as decisions regarding the methods and timing of managing the phenomenon of anthropogenic climate change - which entail discretionary socio-economic evaluations and cost-benefit analyses across various sectors of human community life - fall within the jurisdiction of political bodies and are not subject to sanction in today’s judgment. Through the civil action proposed, the plaintiffs are essentially asking the court to annul regulatory measures of both primary and secondary nature (as illustrated by the Treasury's defense on pages 11 et seq. of the appearance document and evident from the documentation filed on 15.03.2022), which implement the political choices of the legislator and government to achieve the objectives set at the international and European levels (in both the short and long term) in violation of a fundamental principle of the legal system represented by the principle of separation of powers.

Did outcome of decision develop the law

• No

Involvement of NGO/law firm in application

Available information on how children got involved in the litigation

Age range of litigants

• Other (Under 25)