The reasons given for the ruling by a judge of the Styrian Administrative Court caused outrage. He had dismissed the complaint of a climate activist convicted of blocking the Graz Opera Ring in November 2022. The judge also used a pseudoscientific work to support his reasons.
In the judge’s October 2023 ruling, first reported by the Kleine Zeitung, the judge wrote that the scientific consensus on man-made climate change is a “controversial hypothesis.” The complainant has also stated this. Although this consensus is “controversial”, it increasingly justifies political control mechanisms such as the CO2 tax, the judge said.
Judge: There is no ‘state of emergency’.
The ‘state of emergency’ with which the climate activist argued therefore does not exist. “Even if you accept human influence on the global climate, the urgency of the danger is lacking because climate changes are known to occur over periods of many years,” the report says. Even if it were, the Last Generation activists’ roadblock was unable “even in the abstract” to avert the “perceived imminent threat of the collapse of human civilization caused by climate change.” Due to the blockade, the activist had to pay a fine of 225 euros.
When viewed “in an ideology-free manner,” the court cannot understand “what specific imminent danger exists in terms of global warming, which could lead to the collapse of human citizens,” the finding continues. Climate protest is “first and foremost a political ideology. “This is mainly represented by so-called green and other parties and political groups,” said the judge, who himself was previously director of the Styrian state parliament club FPÖ. Climate protection is not a high priority for the FPÖ and many measures are rejected by the FPÖ.
Argument with a pseudoscientific pamphlet
Particularly absurd: the judge disputes the scientific report of the recognized Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), to which the climate activist refers, with the publication ‘There is no climate emergency’ and claims that ‘a global network of more than 1,750 scientists and experts’ have co-written.
However, this article is not a scientific document, but contains claims that have already been refuted. The ‘World Climate Declaration’, as the newspaper is also called, was signed by more than 1,100 people, many of whom have ties to climate change-sceptic organizations or companies active in the fossil fuel sector. In contrast, the IPPC’s Sixth World Climate Report consists of 9,000 pages and provides evidence for man-made global warming.
Judge sees no bias
What is explosive is that three other climate activists from the last generation stood before the same judge on Tuesday. In April 2023, the police fined them 750 euros for a road blockade and filed a complaint. The three activists accused the judge of bias because he had already justified other judgments “by denying man-made climate change,” as Last Generation said. However, the court rejected the request for partiality.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
