Photo courtesy of GPA Photo Archive via Flickr. A new climate change resolution, which requests an advisory opinion from the ICJ, has been passed by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Elizabeth Murray ’26
Staff Writer
The United Nations adopted a new resolution on March 29, 2023, which requested that the International Court of Justice give an advisory opinion on countries’ obligations to combat climate change, a U.N. press release reported. The U.N. also asked the ICJ to weigh in on the consequences for countries that do not provide aid to efforts that combat climate change. The resolution highlighted developing island nations and the global south as regions that experience the impacts of climate change disproportionately.
The Washington Post stated that a similar resolution was brought to the U.N. in 2011 — by the Pacific island nations of Palau and the Marshall Islands — although this one failed to pass. According to an article by the Washington Post, an advisory opinion from the ICJ will interpret how international agreements apply to climate change and what obligations countries are required to uphold. This ruling will not be legally binding but can be used to pressure governments into taking action against climate change. “An opinion would assist the General Assembly, the U.N. and member states to take the bolder and stronger climate action that our world so desperately needs,” U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres explained to the General Assembly.
The Guardian explained that the Pacific island nation Vanuatu spearheaded this new resolution. Youth activists, law students and Indigenous lawyers from the Pacific were also key in passing this resolution. Vanuatu has been under a six-month-long state of emergency. According to CNN, this initiative was started by the student group Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, who created a petition and shared it with other students and faculty.
As a result of the petition, a proposal and letter were drafted and sent to the Vanuatu government. The students then met with the foreign minister, Ralph Regenvanu. The Vanuatu government approved the proposal and brought it to the international stage. “I was very happy to receive that proposal and to commit to advancing it,” Regenvanu said to CNN.
This new resolution comes shortly after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group created by the United Nations Environment Programme in 1988 to “prepare a comprehensive review and recommendations” relating to current climate science, released its most recent report. According to Time Magazine, the report explains that the global temperature will increase by one and a half degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) by the early 2030s and three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) by the year 2100.
The impacts of climate change are already tangible in the form of natural disasters, such as floods and extreme heat waves, and in the future, we are likely to experience heightened disasters. The report states that current efforts to combat climate change are insufficient and that there will be a need for widespread and rapid change to avoid catastrophe.
According to Human Rights Watch, this new resolution is notable because it frames fighting climate change as a human rights obligation. Because of this, the international courts will now be able to rule that countries that do not fulfill their obligations are violating the human rights of those who live in parts of the world most affected by climate change. “The resolution should demonstrate to the ICJ that U.N. member countries are eager for clear, definitive and well-reasoned answers to crucial questions of state responsibility,” Richard Pearshouse, the director of environment and human rights at Human Rights Watch, stated.