22/7/25
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The International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands, where the advisory opinion on the obligations of States with respect to climate change will be delivered on the 23rd of July at 15:00 CEST / GMT+2. (Shutterstock)
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will deliver an advisory opinion on the obligations of States with respect to climate change on the 23rd of July. The ICJ climate advisory proceedings resulted from the relentless efforts of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC), the Worlds Youth for Climate Justice (WY4CJ) and a core group of states led by Vanuatu. The resolution to request the advisory opinion was unanimously adopted by the UN General Assembly on 29 March 2023.
The ICJ opinion is expected to clarify the obligations of states to take climate action including responding to Loss and Damage and ensuring that support, including finance at the scale of the needs of developing countries is provided. The needs of developing countries are currently projected at between 128 and 937 billion USD in 2025 alone and our calculations suggest that 724.43 billion USD will be needed each year. The ICJ ruling follows the delivery of two other advisory opinions from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) .
In May of 2024, the ITLOS delivered an advisory opinion, in response to a request by the Commission of Small Island States on climate change and international law on the obligations of State Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in relation to the climate crisis. The ruling clarified that States have obligations under the Law of the Sea for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions from marine activities that are additional to those inscribed in the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as well as obligations to protect the marine environment from the impacts of climate change, including but not limited to ocean acidification.
Earlier this month, the IACHR delivered an advisory opinion in response to a request from Chile and Colombia to clarify the obligations of States to respond to the climate emergency under international human rights law. The advisory opinion found that under international human rights law, States have an obligation to prevent and provide remedy for Loss and Damage caused by the climate crisis including through effective response mechanisms, regulating the behaviour of companies, ensuring access to justice and the public participation in decision making.
Together, these three climate advisory proceedings represent a historic moment that will set the stage for climate action including scaling up Loss and Damage response and finance, accountability, and justice for decades to come. At the same time they will provide guidance that can inform Loss and Damage litigation cases that will put additional pressure on States to act to avoid (through mitigation), minimise (through adaptation) and address loss and damage. For example, the recent case of Liluya vs. RWE found that major emitters can be held liable under German civil law for the consequences of climate change.
The advisory opinion will be delivered at 15:00 CEST / GMT+2 by one or more of the judges at the ICJ and will be webcast here. The reading of the opinion is expected to take between one and one and a half hours, after which we expect the advisory opinion to be uploaded here. There will also be limited first come first served in person viewing from the ICJ’s public gallery.
If you're in The Hague on the 23rd, you can join a solidarity demonstration outside the ICJ as the court delivers the advisory opinion. The demonstration will run from 13:30 - 16:00 CEST at Carnegieplein 2, the Hague, Netherlands, with speeches, chants and a film screening before a collective viewing of the ruling. More information can be found here.
Taking place in person in the Hague and online on the 24 July, from 17:30–19:00 CEST, the hybrid panel event, “𝘈 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘵: 𝘓𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘙𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘊𝘑 𝘊𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘙𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨”, will see legal experts, diplomats, academics and youth leaders providing an initial readout on the advisory opinion and considering what is next for its implementation. Confirmed speakers include: H.E. Ambassador Odo Tevi (Vanuatu), Mary Robinson (The Elders Foundation), Vishal Prasad (PISFCC), Julian Aguon (Blue Ocean Law), Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh (University of Amsterdam), Coral Pasisi (Pacific Community), Benjamin Schachter (OHCHR), Kate Wilson (Saint Lucia), Bryce Rudyk (AOSIS) and Jennifer Robinson (Doughty Street Chambers).
Several organisations including the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), the WS4CJ will have a roster of experts ready to provide legal expertise and further resources. Visit the dedicated pages from CIEL here and WY4CJ here.
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Watch the video here: