LUXEMBOURG, May 14, 2025 — Today, the Council of Europe’s 46 member states missed a key opportunity to start the negotiations to legally protect the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment for all in Europe, according to the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL).
The Council of Europe (CoE) gathered for a Committee of Ministers meeting in Luxembourg on May 13 and 14 to advance, among other priorities, the need for coordinated action to protect the environment, as agreed during the Summit of Europe in Reykjavík in May 2023. However, at a time when Europeans are increasingly affected by the triple planetary crisis of pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss, States refused to act upon the call by parliamentarians, academics, and civil society to take decisive action to legally protect the right to a healthy environment.
Sebastien Duyck, CIEL’s Senior Attorney, released the following statement:
“It’s outrageous that in 2025, Europe still hasn’t legally recognized the right to a healthy environment as a basic human right.
“Throughout the ministerial negotiations, Switzerland and Norway led the opposition to progress for over 500 million people, ignoring mounting evidence of environmental harms and their devastating impacts on lives and livelihoods. Europe should be leading — not lagging — when it comes to human rights.
“But the tide is turning. Thankfully, following the lead of France, Slovenia, and Portugal, some governments are hearing the call from citizens and experts to step up and ensure that Europe is no longer the only continent whose regional human rights system does not legally recognize the right to a healthy environment as a basic human right.
“The Council of Europe must begin the negotiations of a protocol to protect this right under the European Convention on Human Rights without delay. Environmental destruction has victims—real people experiencing real harms—and until their rights are protected and justice is delivered, civil society will not back down.”
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Media contact:
Niccolo’ Sarno, CIEL Media Relations: [email protected]
Photo credits: Bobby Inglish