The ICJ Advisory Opinion

an ICJ advisory  opinion provides an excellent forum to endorse the best scientific findings on  anthropogenic climate change, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate  Change Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C. The Court has recently  demonstrated a willingness to engage with complex and competing scientific claims. Importantly, ICJ findings of fact on climate change “would be of great authority in  proceedings before other international courts and tribunals, and before national  courts”.

the nature  of the Paris Agreement is one in which states voluntarily commit to emissions  reductions. Given the shortcomings of the commitments made to date, there remains  the task of continually encouraging greater ambition. An ICJ advisory opinion on  climate change is one method through which parties to the Paris Agreement may be  further encouraged to commit to a level of emissions reductions that are in line with the ultimate objective of the international climate change regime: preventing dangerous  anthropogenic interference with the climate system. 

International law develops in an incremental and piecemeal  fashion, leading to a separation between different areas of law. International climate  change law arose from an environmental treaty process, but failure of that process to  achieve its objectives now means that our human rights are threatened by a changing  climate. 

A core role of ICJ advisory opinions is developing and clarifying international law. The  ICJ is the only global judicial body that can hear evidence of law and fact on the great  range of critically important legal issues that are impacted by climate change and  ultimately provide an opinion integrating consideration of them all. This would in turn  enhance the effectiveness of the international legal system in tackling climate change,  for example by bolstering the authority of human rights bodies to address climate  change under their respective mandates.

In view of all of the above, there is potential for an ICJ  advisory opinion to provide, whether expressly or implicitly, authoritative baselines  for state action on reducing greenhouse gas emissions based on their existing  obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights and parallel obligations under  international environmental law. An advisory opinion could also consolidate the  specific obligations of developed States to assist developing States on climate action  through finance for mitigation, adaptation and addressing loss and damage.

The ICJ findings on climate science and law would be of great authority in any relevant future proceedings before other international courts and tribunals.  While each domestic legal system adopts its own approach to international case law, such findings could also be influential both in encouraging claimants to bring matters before national courts, as well as in their ultimate determinations. An advisory opinion could therefore pave the way for successful litigation against governments and corporations that are responsible for climate change and its consequences. Such litigation could seek preventive action, compensation for losses and damages resulting from climate change, or both.