Legal jurisdictions can no longer wring their hands in anguish and complain that they do not have enough authority or precedence to rule on matters relating to climate change.

Listen to this article 12 min Listen to this article 12 min On 23 July 2025, the International Court of Justice (the United Nations' Organisation's principal judicial body) delivered a landmark Advisory Opinion, affirming that states must protect the climate system from the catastrophic impacts of climate change, notably through instruments such as the Paris Agreement and its ambition to cap global warming at 1.5°C relative to preindustrial levels.

The court concludes in paragraph 457 (page 130) that "the climate change treaties set forth binding obligations for States parties to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions".

These obligations, the court adds, emanate from several key instruments that states are party to, including among others: United Nations Charter; the Kyoto Protocol of 1997; the Conference of the Parties (COP) and its Paris Agreement of 2015; the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea; the Montreal Protocol; the Biodiversity Convention; the Convention on Desertification; the Customary International Convention; and international human rights law.

The work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) provided a lot of the scientific basis that the court used to determine the urgency...