International Court of Justice climate advisory opinion (2025)
An opinion delivered unanimously in July 2025, holding that states have legal obligations to prevent harm to the climate system, whose breach engages their responsibility.
States' climate commitments were often seen as political promises, each setting its own contribution with no sanction attached. Asked by the UN General Assembly at Vanuatu's initiative, the International Court of Justice stated which law applies and what it requires. It held that preventing significant harm to the climate system and cooperating to that end are customary obligations owed to the international community, and that their breach is an internationally wrongful act giving rise to reparation. The opinion is not binding, but it already supports national courts and negotiations on loss and damage. For political risk analysis, it gives vulnerable states a legal basis to claim reparation from major emitters.
On July 23, 2025, the Court unanimously delivered its opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change, holding that the applicable law includes the climate treaties, other conventions, custom and international human rights law. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea had delivered a first opinion on the same ground on May 21, 2024.
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