Air Date: Week of December 6, 2024

The International Court of Justice in the Hague, the Netherlands. (Photo: Andrea Brizzi, UN Photo, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The world’s biggest climate case is underway at the International Court of Justice at the Hague in the Netherlands. Over 100 countries and intergovernmental organizations are arguing before a 15-judge panel, which could decide to issue an advisory opinion to clarify nations’ obligations to limit global warming emissions.

Transcript

DOERING: From PRX and the Jennifer and Ted Stanley Studios at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, this is Living on Earth. I’m Jenni Doering.

CURWOOD: And I’m Steve Curwood.

The world’s biggest climate case kicked off on December 2nd, before the International Court of Justice at the Hague in the Netherlands. Also known as the World Court, the ICJ was established after World War II as a mechanism for deciding disputes between member states of the United Nations.

DOERING: During this case, fifteen judges will hear from over 100 countries and intergovernmental organizations, each making their arguments on what international climate law obliges countries to do in the fight against climate disruption. The judges will then be asked to give an advisory opinion on that obligation, and the legal consequences for those who fail to comply.

CURWOOD: Though this opinion is not binding, it does clarify binding international law, like the UNFCCC's basis for the 2015 Paris Agreement. So, a favorable opinion could encourage cooperation with the UN climate treaty, which has struggled to limit global warming emissions.

DOERING: And it could also provide a legal precedent that could be cited at the national level, meaning that if the World Court finds that countries are obligated to fight climate disruption, then citizens could sue their own governments for failing to do so. The case was the brainchild of a group of law students from the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, who began a campaign to bring the case to the World Court back in 2019.

CURWOOD: To get onto the ICJ agenda, they approached the government of Vanuatu, a small island nation in the South Pacific Ocean that then led a coalition of over 130 UN member states to pressure the UN General Assembly into seeking an official opinion from the court. One of those original law students who developed the idea, Cynthia Houniuhi is from the Solomon Islands and spoke at the opening of the hearing.

HOUNIUHI: Climate change is undermining our ability to uphold the sacred contract. My people’s land of Fanalei is nearing a critical point on the verge of being completely engulfed by the rising seas. Without our land, our bodies and memories are severed from the fundamental relationship that define who we are. Those who stand to lose are the future generations. Their future is uncertain, reliant upon the decision making of a handful of large emitting states, which as my colleagues explained, are responsible for climate change. These states have not only enabled but proactively encouraged the production and consumption of fossil fuels and continue to do so today.

DOERING: The climate hearings in front of the World Court are expected to conclude on December 13th. A ruling will be closely watched not only for any impact on the climate treaty, but also other environmental treaties such as the Convention on Biological Diversity, and one proposed for plastic pollution.

CURWOOD: The biodiversity treaty recently suspended its bi-annual conference of the parties or COP, after it failed to find consensus on next steps. And delegates for the Plastic Treaty proposal recently failed to meet their own goal of creating consensus language for an accord by the end of 2024.

 

Links

AP News | “A Landmark Climate Change Case Opens at the Top UN Court as Island Nations Fear Rising Seas”

Watch the proceedings live on the UN’s website