Austria's top court rejects case filed by young people seeking tougher action against climate change

BERLIN — Austria's top court on Friday dismissed a case brought by a dozen minors seeking to force the government to take tougher action against climate change.

The plaintiffs, born between 2006 and 2015, had argued that their constitutional rights were infringed, because the Alpine nation's climate law doesn’t sufficiently protect them from the consequences of global warming.

The Constitutional Court noted that the lawsuit challenged only parts of the legislation and striking those down would distort its original intention.

Judges also concluded that amending the law the way that the plaintiffs requested wouldn't resolve the underlying problem and rejected the case on formal grounds.

A similar lawsuit in Germany that prompted the government there to set new targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions two years ago.

Austria's climate minister, a member of the environmentalist Green party, wants to revise the law and ensure the country's greenhouse gas emissions reach net zero by 2040.