Is it time for the World Court to weigh in on climate change?

(Inside Climate News, 4 Oct 2021) Vanuatu is maneuvering to call the question, hoping the UN General Assembly will ask the International Court of Justice to rule.

The Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu has called for the Hague-based International Court of Justice to weigh in on whether nations have a legal responsibility to prevent their greenhouse gas emissions from harming other countries.  

Ahead of the United Nations’ climate talks in Scotland next month, Vanuatu said it would work to build a coalition of countries to support a U.N. General Assembly resolution asking the court to issue an advisory opinion on climate change. The resolution would require either majority or two-thirds support, depending on how the U.N. Charter is interpreted. 

If Vanuatu succeeds, and if the court agrees to take up the issue, its opinion would mark the first time the U.N.’s principal judicial body has considered legal responsibilities related to climate change. 

The ruling would also represent a significant departure from the status quo, in which national governments, working loosely together through the voluntary U.N. climate process, have maintained exclusive control over how the world stops global warming.

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Inside Climate News, 4 Oct 2021: Is it time for the World Court to weigh in on climate change?