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The UN’s top court has just said in a landmark climate opinion that a “clean, healthy and sustainable environment” is a human right.
Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are delivering a long-awaited advisory opinion on nations’ climate obligations and the consequences they face if they don’t fulfil them.
“The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is therefore inherent in the enjoyment of other human rights,” ICJ President Yuji Iwasawa said.
The court recognised that climate change is an “urgent and existential threat”, saying that greenhouse gas emissions are “unequivocally caused by human activities” and have cross-border effects.
It affirmed that, building on the latest science and decisions at UN climate conferences, the target of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels must be understood to be the internationally agreed objective of climate policies.
The ICJ also described the climate system as an “integral and vitally important part of the environment and which must be protected for present and future generations”.
The ruling comes after years of lobbying from vulnerable island nations led by Vanuatu, which led to the ICJ being asked by the UN General Assembly in 2023 to deliver an advisory opinion.
A panel of 15 judges was tasked with answering two questions. Firstly, what obligations do states have under international law to address climate change for both current and future generations? Second, what are the legal consequences for states that fail to meet these obligations, causing serious climate harm?
At hearings in December last year, the ICJ heard from more than 100 countries and organisations, with written statements or comments from around 150 more, making it the largest case the top UN court has ever seen.
Though the 500-page advisory opinion is non-binding and the court can’t force countries to act, it forms an important basis for international climate obligations.
Ahead of the ruling, activists gathered outside the court holding banners that read “Courts have spoken. The law is clear. States must ACT NOW.”