The European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday ruled in favour of a group of elderly Swiss women who had argued that their government's inadequate efforts to combat climate change put them at risk of dying in heatwaves.

The continent's top rights court issued its decision after it found that the Swiss state had violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees the "right to respect for private and family life".

The court, however, threw out two other cases also concerning government policies on climate change on procedural grounds.

It dismissed a petition from six Portuguese people, aged 12 to 24, against 32 states including their own as the case had not exhausted all remedies at the national level.

In a third case, the court rejected a claim from a former French mayor that the inaction of the French state posed the risk of his town being submerged under the North Sea. (Agencies)