International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change

The ICJ concluded that all States have legal obligations to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and that a breach of such obligations constitute internationally wrongful acts entailing the legal responsibility of the States in question.

These conclusions were reached unanimously, after the ICJ received hundreds of written statements and written comments and after having heard extensive oral statements from the various States and international organisations that participated in the proceedings before the ICJ.³ The scale and depth of the statements received by the ICJ undoubtedly represents the international community’s shared commitment to finding a lasting and satisfactory solution to the climate crisis.