Meet the 76-year-old Swiss activist who’s part of a landmark climate ruling

Like other countries, Switzerland isn’t acting quickly enough to tackle climate change. But in a landmark case, an international court just ruled that the country’s failure to cut emissions is violating human rights . A group of elderly women filed the lawsuit, arguing that they are especially affected by climate impacts like extreme heat. Now Switzerland is legally bound to act faster on climate.



“The ruling says that Switzerland needs to fill the gap—that it’s not doing enough and needs to do more,” says Georg Klingler, a climate campaigner from Greenpeace Switzerland who worked with the women on the case. “The ruling also says that it has to do this with reliable data based on the science and respecting the carbon budget that’s still available to not overrun 1.5 degrees.” The government will have to set new emissions targets and determine how to meet them.



Some right-wing politicians have said that they’d rather give up human rights than comply with the ruling. But the Swiss government says that the ruling needs to be taken seriously. An earlier climate lawsuit in the Netherlands similarly forced the Dutch government to do more “and changed the debate,” Klingler says. The Swiss case, as the first to tie climate change to human rights, will likely lead to more lawsuits in other countries.



We talked to Elisabeth Stern, a member of KlimaSeniorinnen , or Senior Women for Climate Protection—the group behind the lawsuit—about her work on the case.



Why were you interested in being a part of the lawsuit?



I’m now 76 years old, and I was an activist almost all my life. Beginning at age 28, I wanted to [save] the environment, I wanted to end world hunger, end wars, all of that. The other women are the same, and that’s what inspired me when I met some of the other women. Some of us are frail in the body—you know, this joint hurts, the other joint hurts. But we’ve worked all our lives. When I retired at age 70, it was very clear that I would just spend my time as a volunteer in a climate group. Coincidentally, I happened to meet one of the KlimaSeniorinnen.



[Photo: © Greenpeace/Joël Hunn]



How did the lawsuit originally begin?



It started with [Georg Klingler]. He heard about a case in the Netherlands from an NGO (nongovernmental organization] called Urgenda. They took their government to court for not doing enough in terms of climate action. They won that case, and he heard about it and thought we should do the same thing in Switzerland. You can only take your government to court if you’re personally affected, and out of the population, the most affected are elder women. So he went in search of elder women.



Some studies have found that older women are especially at risk from heat-related illnesses. Some women in your group also have heart and respiratory diseases that mean that extreme heat can be deadly. Have you personally been affected by climate change?



Yes. Until about two years ago, I had no problem with the heat. But now I can’t really be outside when it’s 95 degrees.



Are there other climate impacts you’ve noticed in Switzerland?



The most obvious one is the melting glaciers. When I was growing up, the Swiss Alps were considered the “water castle” of Europe. Now this ice is just melting away each summer. We’re even covering the glaciers up with big pieces of cloth when we have a heat wave that might last for three weeks. One of the glaciers that was literally in my backyard just disappeared altogether. We also have many more accidents happening in the mountains. I’ve been a member of the Swiss Alpine Club for about 30 years, so I’m used to moving around in the mountains and I love hiking. We have so many accidents now because I think we don’t have the experience to know how differently the mountains behave now.



[Photo: © Miriam Künzli/Ex-Press/Greenpeace]



Your organization spent eight years going through the courts with this lawsuit, and you dealt with hate mail. What helped you keep going?



We were giving so many presentations all over Europe on what we were trying to do. And we noticed that we changed the narrative. [In the beginning] people were laughing at these elder women. This has changed to respect: “Oh, old women can do more than just sit in a rocking chair and knit something.” We changed that. That result was empowering for us. We also noticed that we had become for many of the young climate activists almost like an inspiration. And we really like them. So we weren’t just waiting for the judgment to come.



How does it feel now that you have the final ruling?



Unbelievably, we just won on every single point. We waited eight years. That means we had to have a lot of patience. I still can hardly believe it. I slept only two hours [the night after the decision]. I’m sort of in an adrenaline cloud or something. I’m also getting ready for all the nasty comments we will get because some people, specifically the more politically right, don’t like this judgment. The government is not going to be excited. But that’s just how it is.