Three Austrian nationals and the environmental organization Global 2000 filed their case with the ECtHR in 2023 after having exhausted the available domestic remedies. For the domestic case, see the domestic case entry.

The applicants allege that the Federal Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs’ refusal to ban the sale of solid fossil fuels from 2025 and of fossil fuels used in aviation from 2040, or to take other equally effective measures to mitigate the effects of climate change, constitutes a violation of their rights under Article 2 (right to life) and Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life). One of the applicants, Ms. Jasansksy, who is a farmer, additionally alleges a breach of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) as her livelihood was in danger because of droughts caused by climate change affecting her crops.

On December 11, 2025, the ECtHR published its unanimous decision, taken on November 18, 2025 by the Fourth Section of the Court. The Court found, with respect to the applicants’ allegations under Articles 2 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, that Article 2 would only come into play where there exists a serious, real, and sufficiently identifiable threat to an individual’s life. This threshold is also essential for individual applicants to satisfy the particularly stringent victim-status requirements applicable to climate change mitigation claims, as articulated in KlimaSeniorinnen (para. 488). The Court considered it doubtful that Article 2 was engaged on the facts of this case and therefore proceeded to examine the application exclusively under Article 8.

Regarding the individual applicants, the Court observed that they had not provided concrete information outlining how they were personally affected, nor had they submitted evidence substantiating the health conditions they invoked. Consequently, they did not satisfy the victim-status criteria formulated in KlimaSeniorinnen, and their complaints were declared inadmissible. The Court rejected the argument advanced by the second applicant, aged 28, that the mere fact of being young, and thus exposed to climate change impacts over a longer future period, placed her health at risk within the meaning of the Convention. It also dismissed the first applicant’s reliance on a heart condition, noting that the requisite evidentiary basis had not been provided.

With respect to the fourth applicant, an environmental organization incorporated under Austrian law, the Court applied the representative-standing criteria for associations established in KlimaSeniorinnen. It accepted that recognition under Austrian domestic law demonstrated that the organization was validly constituted, entitled to act within that jurisdiction, and mandated, through its statutes, to work on environmental protection. However, the Court questioned whether it satisfied the remaining elements of the KlimaSeniorinnen test, namely whether its statutory purposes included the defense of human rights in the environmental context and whether it represented individuals affected within Austria. The Court considered these aspects unresolved, as no substantive documentation regarding the association’s membership or statutes had been submitted. It left the issue open because the application would in any event have been inadmissible on other grounds.

The Court reiterated that Article 8 does not guarantee a right to the specific measure sought by the applicants, namely a prohibition on the sale of fossil fuels. It stressed that, in light of the subsidiarity principle and the broad margin of appreciation afforded to States in determining how to pursue their climate objectives, Article 8 cannot be interpreted as obliging a State to adopt any particular mitigation measure under a sectoral legal framework of an applicant’s choosing (para. 33).

Furthermore, the Court held that the applicants had failed to adequately demonstrate how Austria had neglected to establish an appropriate regulatory regime. Although the government acknowledged that existing policies were insufficient to ensure compliance with its 2030 greenhouse gas reduction targets, the Court considered this insufficient for the applicants to substantiate their claims. It also noted that the applicants had not pursued available domestic remedies beyond requesting action from the Federal Ministry, nor had they argued that effective remedies were lacking.

The Court also addressed the third applicant’s reliance on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1, concerning the right to property. As a farmer, she claimed that climate-change-induced droughts threatened her property. The Court observed that it had not previously applied Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 in the climate context and that existing case law did not support its applicability (para. 37). It added that, even assuming the provision could apply to climate-related impacts, the third applicant would not meet the victim-status requirement.

Fliegenschnee and Others v. Austria

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Fliegenschnee and Others v. Austria - decision

Filed

International

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

A ban is a legal action that prevents the sale or supply of a product or service, or that recalls a product from the market. Examples are bans on SF6, greenwashing, fossil fuel advertisement or single-use plastics.

The release of heat-trapping gases, primarily from human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and industry.

Actions to reduce emissions in energy generation and supply.

Extreme weather refers to events where a weather variable exceeds (or falls below) a threshold. Meaning it is significantly different from the average or usual weather pattern.

A drought is an extended period of unusually dry weather marked by a significant and sustained lack of precipitation, falling below a specific threshold over a large area for more than a month

This sector involves activities to move goods and people, alongside the storage of products.

Fliegenschnee and Others v. Austria - decision

Target

Policy instrument

Risk

Impacted group

Renewable energy

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector