Protection from climate change is a human right, and countries in violation of the now international law will be held accountable.
The top court of the United Nations reached a landmark decision for the fight against climate change yesterday when they said that countries who fail to take measures to protect the planet from climate change will be responsible for reparations to nations harmed by the effects of climate change.
“Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system … may constitute an internationally wrongful act,” International Court of Justice President Yuji Iwasawa said during the hearing, as reported by The Associated Press.
Iwasawa called the climate crisis “an existential problem of planetary proportions that imperils all forms of life and the very health of our planet.”
All 15 of the court’s judges agreed on the decision, which is being hailed as a turning point in international climate law. A “clean, healthy and sustainable environment” is a human right, according to the court. The opinion paves the way for other legal actions.
The court was deciding on a case backed by more than 130 countries and led by the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. The United States and China are among major greenhouse gas emitters who are members of the U.N.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the advisory opinion is “historic.”
“This is a victory for our planet, for climate justice, and for the power of young people to make a difference. Young Pacific islanders initiated this call for humanity to the world. And the world must respond,” Guterres said in a statement.
According to former U.N. Human Rights Chief Mary Robinson, the court opinion has caused the tables to turn.
“The world’s highest court provided us with a powerful new tool to protect people from the devastating impacts of the climate crisis — and to deliver justice for the harm their emissions have already caused,” Robinson said in a statement.
The U.N. General Assembly asked the court for an opinion in 2023 after years of lobbying by the Pacific island nations afraid they will disappear under rising sea waters. The court’s panel was asked: what are countries obligated to do under international law to protect the climate and environment from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions? They were also asked to address the legal consequences for governments when their actions or lack of actions cause significant harm to the climate and environment.
“The stakes could not be higher. The survival of my people and so many others is on the line,” Vanuatu Attorney General Arnold Kiel Loughman said in December during week-long hearings.
Vanuatu’s Minister for Climate Change Ralph Regenvanu said he did not expect the court’s ruling to be good, but it is a very important course correction.
“For the first time in history, the ICJ has spoken directly about the biggest threat facing humanity,” Regenvanu said.
The court’s more than 130-page decision will allow activists to bring lawsuits against their own countries for failure to comply and could be used as leverage at the U.N.’s next climate conference in late 2025 in Brazil.
The Trump Administration withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, which will make finding scientific assessments of climate change threatening Americans more difficult.
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Rebecca Barnabi
