ITLOS climate advisory opinion (2024)
The first opinion of an international tribunal on climate, delivered in May 2024: greenhouse gas emissions are pollution of the marine environment under the Law of the Sea Convention.
Small island states suffer sea level rise and ocean acidification without contributing significantly to emissions, and the Paris Agreement gives them no judicial remedy. They therefore looked to a binding treaty already in force, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which requires states to prevent pollution of the marine environment. The Tribunal held that greenhouse gas emissions constitute such pollution, that states have a stringent duty of due diligence to reduce it, including by regulating the private sector, and that complying with the Paris Agreement is not necessarily sufficient. The opinion opens a legal path separate from climate negotiations. It paved the way for the broader 2025 opinion of the International Court of Justice.
On May 21, 2024, at the request of the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, the Tribunal unanimously delivered its opinion, grounding the obligation in Article 194 of the Convention and the best available science.
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