UK court dismisses challenge to Britain's climate change plan

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain's new climate adaptation strategy is lawful, London's High Court ruled on Friday, dismissing a landmark legal challenge brought by environmental campaigners.

Friends of the Earth took legal action over Britain's national adaptation programme, introduced by the previous Conservative government last year, setting out what it and others will do to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The group's case relied in part on the European Court of Human Rights' April ruling that Switzerland violated its citizens' human rights by failing to do enough to combat climate change.

Judge Martin Chamberlain rejected Friends of the Earth's case. The group said in a statement that it was considering whether to appeal.

Although the previous government had not carried out a proper equality impact assessment, the result would "highly likely" be the same if it was done again, Chamberlain said in a written ruling, dismissing that ground of challenge.

The judge also dismissed Friends of the Earth's other grounds of challenge to the lawfulness of Britain's strategy, including that it failed to mitigate the impact of climate change on people with disabilities.

The climate adaptation programme is designed to protect citizens from the risks posed by high temperatures, coastal flooding and extreme weather.

Friends of the Earth's head of legal Will Rundle said in a statement: "Regardless of this judgment, the national adaptation programme is hopelessly inadequate and is failing us all.

"A robust and comprehensive adaptation plan is urgently needed to help protect us from increasingly severe storms, floods and heatwaves – particularly marginalised groups, such as older and disabled people, and those living in areas most at risk from climate change."

Britain's Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Climate campaigners have increasingly turned to the law to force governments to move more quickly on tackling emissions.

Friends of the Earth was one of three groups which successfully challenged Britain's separate, climate action plan earlier this year.

(Reporting by Sam Tobin; editing by Sachin Ravikumar and Jason Neely)