
How ICJ’s upcoming ruling assist in handling the climate crisis?
Soon, the International Court of Justice will shed light on whether nations have a legal responsibility to fight against climate change. Also, the ICJ will discuss how countries should be held accountable for increasing the environmental temperature that leads to global warming. Despite the fact that the stances of the ICJ are not legally binding, they hold very important legal and political significance. According to experts, this decision could have an impact on climate-related lawsuits worldwide.
Europe and Latin American courts consider the ICJ finding as a reference. If the ICJ finds out that every nation has a legal duty to pay attention to climate change problems, then it could set a global standard. They also encourage countries to take stronger steps that prevent change. This could lead to the ICJ taking strict actions against nations and industries that harm the environment and cause global warming. These hearings highlight the significant step to utilize internationally set laws to fight the climate crisis and force nations to reduce activities that are not environmentally efficient.
Due to inadequate climate finances, many nations were frustrated in the recent hearing. At COP29, developing and rich nations promised to provide a good amount of finance, approximately $300 billion annually, by 2035 to assist poor nations in tackling the climate crisis.
However, many believe that this amount is not sufficient to overcome the crisis due to climate change. One of the special envoys for climate change, Ralph Regenvanu, stressed the importance of relying less on fossil fuels and emphasized the need for financial assistance to vulnerable countries like his Pacific island nation. He criticized the summit COP29 due to its limits on progress. According to him, this time the conference did not deliver meaningful climate justice.
Regenvanu hopes that ICJ overcomes the crisis and provides a better solution to all of the climate issues
Similarly, Fiji’s Attorney General, Graham Leung, called the hearings a historic opportunity for small island nations to seek accountability and justice in their fight against the devastating impacts of climate change.
At the start of 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Switzerland does not fulfill its citizens’ rights. This is due to the fact that they are failing to take sufficient action against the climate crisis. This ruling clearly represents the growing role of courts in holding governments accountable for environment-related responsibilities. However, the court also did not pay attention to two other climate-related cases. It demonstrates the legal challenges involved in using litigation to address climate change.
Vanuatu is a small island nation. This country has been actively advocating for stronger action on climate change. It faced many challenges, such as rising sea impacts and high levels of storms that made their future unstable. Vanuatu will be the first in the 98 nations and 12 international organizations that present its problems in front of the ICJ, which is also famous as the World Court.
The ICJ, the United Nations’ highest legal body, has been asked to provide an advisory opinion on how international law should address the global issue of climate change.
The assembly requested a formal opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on important climate change problems in 2023. These included whether big greenhouse gas emitters like the US and China should be held accountable for damages, particularly to tiny island states endangered by sea level rise, and the legal obligations of governments to safeguard the global climate system.
The ICJ’s impending ruling is all the more important because COP29 was unable to provide clear direction on climate justice. ClientEarth attorney Lea Main-Klingst stressed that the lack of progress at COP29 has only made the court’s ruling more significant.
Small island states, a range of Western and developing nations, and the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, the United States and China, will all present arguments before the ICJ. There will also be a contribution from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The court’s ruling is anticipated in 2025, and the hearings are set to start Monday at 10 a.m. local time and end on December 13. Global climate policy is anticipated to be significantly impacted by this decision.