International Court of Justice to decide on states’ climate-related obligations – Technologist

From December 2 to 13, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will be the scene of an unprecedented legal gathering on climate change. Lawyers and ministers from 98 states and 12 international organizations will plead their case at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, home to the ICJ, the highest judicial body of the United Nations (UN). It was in fact the member states of the UN General Assembly who, by consensus on March 29, 2023, decided to refer the case to the 15 judges. The judges will have to answer two major questions: What are the international legal obligations of states in terms of climate protection? And what are the legal consequences for polluters, now and in the future?

Vanuatu’s special envoy on climate change and the environment, Ralph Regenvanu, believes these hearings are a “pivotal moment.” This representative of the small Pacific archipelago, who initiated the whole process, expects the judges’ legal opinion to be “one that sets clear the international legal obligations for climate action.”

Replacing political promises with legal obligations – that’s what these hearings are all about. The most vulnerable countries, those of the Global South, want to obtain a decision that will strengthen them in the face of future climate negotiations and recenter the balance of power. They also hope that the ICJ’s legal opinion will provide a solid, unified basis for judges around the world dealing with climate disputes.

Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, professor of sustainability law at the University of Amsterdam and member of the Vanuatu team, said there were an array of “obligations” for states. The 15 ICJ judges are the guardians of international law. At the end of their deliberations, in several months, the judges will not make a decision on one or other of the climate situations presented to them, but they will lay down the principles: They will say what the obligations of states are under existing international law. And what redress applies in the event of conviction by a national court.

‘A continuous violation of international law’

The climate issue will be examined under the microscope of major international texts. Those on the environment, such as the Paris Agreement, and the texts that form the basis of the political, cultural and social rights of peoples, such as the United Nations Charter. We see, Wewerinke-Singh said, “how, for example, failure to protect the marine environment from climate pollution violates obligations under ocean law, and how this same behavior violates peoples’ right to self-determination and other internationally protected human rights.” For this environmental law expert and member of the Vanuatu delegation, “generally speaking, the destruction of the earth’s climate system constitutes a continuing violation of international law.”

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