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We protect the right of people and NGOs to stand up for the environment.
The environment needs people to protect it and we fight for the tools that people and NGOs need to do just that. When governments and public authorities are passing laws and taking decisions, they need to hear the voice of local communities and affected individuals. When governments or corporations break environmental law, there needs to be a way to hold them accountable.
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Climate adaptation: protection from heat stress and floods
Rising global temperatures are endangering lives through extreme weather events like heat, floods and water scarcity, disproportionately affecting older people, women and children. We aim to support those most at risk and explore legal avenues to secure their human rights.
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Keeping big polluters in check
Big polluters don’t think twice about violating your rights and fighting your ability to dissent. Unchecked power like that should not exist in a fair democracy. When polluters threaten your health and your right to do something about it, we stand up for justice – and for the future.
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Phase-out intensive livestock agriculture to protect life and health
ClientEarth is challenging harmful pollution from intensive livestock farming in Europe, linking it to severe health risks and ecosystem damage. With local communities, we will use human rights law to hold authorities accountable and push for sustainable farming, protecting people’s rights to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
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Ban “forever chemicals” to protect life and health
Forever chemicals (PFAS) contaminate water and soil across Europe, causing serious health risks like cancer and hormone disruption. This initiative uses human rights law to support affected communities in Europe, pushing for stronger regulations and urgent action to protect the right to life and health from toxic pollution.
Healthy planet, healthy people
The law isn’t just for lawyers, it’s for all of us. It’s how we defend our environment, our health, and our future. By using our rights – in policy, in court, in action – we can protect the planet we share.
It’s your planet, your future, your rights. You can defend them. Donate today.
[The] Court is of the view that a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a precondition for the enjoyment of many human rights, such as the right to life, the right to health and the right to an adequate standard of living, including access to water, food and housing. The right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment results from the interdependence between human rights and the protection of the environment.
What we do
When you weld the international environmental agreements together with human rights law, human rights law brings into the equation institutions, processes, accountability.
Key cases
2025
In the Inter-American Court’s Advisory Opinion on climate and human rights, we highlighted countries’ obligations to tackle climate change under international law. The case helps clarify how human rights law applies to the climate crisis across the Americas.
2025
We’re supporting a series of legal actions, including cases before the European Court of Human Rights, challenging state inaction on fossil fuel air pollution with a focus on protecting public health, especially that of children.
2024
ClientEarth participated as a third party in Klimaseniorinnen v Switzerland, the first climate case decided by the European Court of Human Rights. The Court found that Switzerland failed to protect older women from climate-related harm, setting an important precedent.
2022
ClientEarth achieved the right of NGOs to take the EU institutions to court when the break environmental law, following a complaint to the UN. NGOs can now hold EU institutions to account before the EU courts in Luxembourg.
2022
In a landmark case against Australia, the UN Human Rights Committee ruled that the State has violated the rights of Torres Strait Islanders by failing to act on climate change. Now we’re working to ensure the ruling results in meaningful action and long-term protection.
2021
We supported the very first case where the European Court of Human Rights found that inaction on pollution – by Italy - breached the right to life.
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