The CAN Europe coalition of NGOs fighting climate change and the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), an organisation specialising in legal action, jointly submitted, on Wednesday 23 August, a request for an internal review to the European Commission. Explained in an article published by CAN Europe on 24 August, the aim of this request is to force the EU to revise its Implementing Decision 2023/1319, which sets the annual national emission allowances (see EUROPE 13212/7) in line with the European climate target of a 55% reduction by 2030.
Referring to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 191 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU and the principles of damage prevention and precaution, these organisations argue that this decision infringes EU environmental law, as it lacks the ambition to protect fundamental human rights and the environment from the impacts of dangerous climate change. What’s more, it is alarmingly out of step with the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
This is part of the mechanism for internal review of EU administrative acts under the Aarhus Regulation. The European Commission has 16 weeks to take a review decision, with the possibility of extending this period to 22 weeks. If an unfavourable decision is taken, it can be challenged before the Court of Justice of the EU.
The initiative is also closely linked with the arguments in the Portuguese Youth case vs 32 States, which will be examined by the European Court of Human Rights on 27 September 2023. And with good reason: in 2020, six children and young adults from Portugal filed a lawsuit against 32 European states, including a majority of EU members, alleging that their insufficient climate ambitions violate their fundamental rights. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)