International Court of Justice calls climate change 'urgent, existential threat'
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "International Court of Justice calls climate change 'urgent, existential threat'")
President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Yuji Iwasawa (C) and members issue first Advisory Opinion (AO) on States' legal obligations to address climate change, in The Hague. Photograph: (AFP)
ICJ on climate change: The court made the observation while issuing a historic advisory opinion on climate change.
The International Court of Justice, the top United Nations court, on Wednesday called climate change an "urgent and existential threat", handing down a landmark ruling on the legal obligations of countries to prevent it. ICJ said that the consequences of climate change are "severe and far-reaching" and that they affect both natural ecosystems and human populations.
"The consequences of climate change are severe and far-reaching: they affect both natural ecosystems and human populations. These consequences underscore the urgent and existential threat posed by climate change," said International Court of Justice president Yuji Iwasawa.
The court further said that climate must be protected for "present and future generations".
The court made the observation while issuing a historic advisory opinion on climate change. It said in The Hague that greenhouse gas emissions are unequivocally caused by “human activities”. It added that these gases have cross-border effects.
After lobbying by vulnerable island nations that fear they could disappear under rising sea waters due to climate change, the United Nations General Assembly asked the ICJ in 2023 for an advisory opinion on the matter.
An advisory opinion is non-binding; however, it forms an important basis for international obligations.
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Judges have waded through tens of thousands of pages of written submissions and heard two weeks of oral arguments during the ICJ's biggest-ever case.