‘Climate lockdown’ anger drives Swiss grandmother to sue government at EU court

Last summer, while dozens of Swiss pensioners were campaigning in the Alps to save their fast-melting glaciers, 85-year-old Marie-Eve Volkoff was instead stuck inside her small Geneva apartment watching TV programmes.

Her frustration with what she calls “climate lockdown” is part of her motivation for suing the Swiss government alongside more than 2,000 other elderly women in the first-ever climate case before the European Court of Human Rights this week.

The submission, set to be followed by two more this year, could result in an emissions cut order that goes beyond even the 2015 Paris Agreement commitments, setting an important precedent.

Switzerland’s punishing triple heatwaves in 2022 compelled Ms Volkoff to stay at home for 11 weeks with just short outings, which she says was worse than COVID-19 and a violation of her human rights.

“I have had to enormously restrict my activities, to wait, with the blinds down and the air conditioning on (shame for an ecologist!) for the heatwave to pass, allowing me to go back to normal life,” she wrote in a letter to her fellow activists entitled “a little tale from climate lockdown” which she shared with Reuters.

“I have had to enormously restrict my activities, to wait, with the blinds down and the air conditioning on (shame for an ecologist!) for the heatwave to pass, allowing me to go back to normal life,” she wrote in a letter to her fellow activists entitled “a little tale from climate lockdown” which she shared with Reuters.

Ms Volkoff, who formerly worked as a volunteer and social worker and enjoys Tai Chi, theatre and swimming in Lake Geneva, says that her confinement was necessary due to a cardiovascular illness.

Her medical documents, which form part of the case’s legal backbone and were reviewed exclusively by Reuters, show she has an irregular heartbeat that worsens during hot weather, obliging her to double her medication and lie down.

Before buying an air conditioner in 2019, Ms Volkoff said she used to hover near her bed for fear of passing out.

Some of the other women in the case described shortness of breath, nausea and even loss of consciousness during heatwaves which are becoming more frequent due to climate change.

One told Reuters she felt she would “melt into the concrete” when out walking on a hot day. Others sought refuge in their cellars.

Slow politics, strong lobbies

Switzerland’s policies to date are deemed “insufficient” by Climate Action Tracker, a website that monitors states’ action on global warming.

Bern outlined a plan to cut emissions further in 2021 but voters rebuffed it as too burdensome.

The Swiss government declined to comment on the case. It told the court that the changes to the women’s lives during heatwaves like staying at home were “quite common” and that everyone, including plants and animals, was affected.

More broadly, Switzerland said it recognised that climate change was a problem for the country, where temperatures are rising at about twice the global rate. But it says solutions need to be found at home.

Anne Mahrer, co-president of the association Senior Women for Climate Protection, which is an applicant in the case in its own right alongside Ms Volkoff, told Reuters that her years as a former politician persuaded her to pursue another route.

Frustration drove one father to do a long hunger strike outside parliament and other climate activists to launch civil disobedience campaigns.

Observers acknowledge that it may be difficult to prove the women’s suffering is the result of climate change, rather than something else. Twice, local courts have rejected their arguments during the six-year legal battle.

Strasbourg has fast-tracked the hearing, meaning judges are set to make a decision within a year instead of the usual three.

But due to the advanced age of the Swiss women (73 on average), several dozen of them have already died.