{"id":86372,"date":"2025-07-23T16:33:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T16:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/86372\/"},"modified":"2025-07-23T16:33:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T16:33:10","slug":"healthy-environment-a-human-right-un-court-says-in-landmark-climate-ruling-climate-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/86372\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthy environment a human right, UN court says in landmark climate ruling | Climate crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u201cclean, healthy and sustainable environment\u201d is a human right, according to judges at the top court of the United Nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The international court of justice (ICJ) delivered a landmark advisory opinion on Wednesday about countries\u2019 obligations to tackle climate change, and the consequences they may face if they do not.<\/p>\n

The non-binding opinion runs to more than 500 pages and is seen as a potential turning point in international climate law. Enshrining a sustainable environment as a human right paves the way for other legal actions, including states returning to the ICJ to hold each other to account, as well as domestic lawsuits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d said the ICJ president, Yuji Iwasawa.<\/p>\n

The ICJ was instructed to produce this document<\/a> by the UN in 2023, after years of campaigning by a group of Pacific island law students<\/a> and diplomacy led by the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu.<\/p>\n

During two weeks of hearings<\/a> in The Hague in December, representatives of vulnerable states told judges that a handful of countries should be held legally responsible<\/a> for the continuing impacts of climate change. Meanwhile, the world\u2019s top greenhouse gas emitters denied any legal responsibility<\/a> beyond the Paris agreement on climate change.<\/p>\n

Climate activists and campaigners demonstrated outside the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague. Photograph: Marta Florin\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The ICJ is the third of four top courts to publish an advisory opinion on climate change. Earlier this month, the inter-American court of human rights (IACHR) concluded that there is a human right to a healthy climate<\/a>. And both the IACHR and the international tribunal for the law of the sea said states have a legal responsibility<\/a> to control greenhouse gases.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the African court on human and people\u2019s rights has only just begun the process.<\/p>\n

Of all these, the ICJ is the court with the widest jurisdiction and it has the role of harmonising and integrating international law.<\/p>\n

Advisory opinions are technically non-binding but are considered authoritative because they summarise existing law rather than create law. They are expected to be used in future litigation and to bolster political negotiations.<\/p>\n

skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n

The planet’s most important stories. Get all the week’s environment news – the good, the bad and the essential<\/p>\n

Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n

Jotham Napat, the prime minister of Vanuatu<\/a>, said this was a \u201cturning point in the fight for climate justice\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis process has elevated the voices of climate-vulnerable nations, driven global awareness, and set the stage for stronger climate action,\u201d said Napat. \u201cThis ruling will give us a foundation to build upon, and this moment will inspire continued efforts for stronger action and accountability, inspiring bold efforts to protect our planet.\u201d<\/p>\n

More details soon \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A \u201cclean, healthy and sustainable environment\u201d is a human right, according to judges at the top court of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":86373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[746,159,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-86372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114903516691276361","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}