A push for more climate action

International climate change litigation reached a milestone on May 21, 2024 when the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea delivered an advisory opinion sought by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law concerning the specific obligations of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on climate change mitigation. The ITLOS advisory opinion generates more attention in the context of the advisory proceedings to be decided by the International Court of Justice in the near future on the “Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change”. Understanding its legal importance The principle of prevention or no harm rule which governs state behaviour towards regulation of shared natural resources so as to avoid transboundary harm of a significant nature in another state has its two main limitations when the rule is sought to be applied to regulate climate crisis: its anchoring in a bilateral frame, and, the principle is not helped due to obstacles relating to attribution and standing in establishing a breach of obligation to climate change. The necessary measures are to be decided in the light of the best available science and the relevant international rules and standards contained in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Climate Change Agreement 2015, and also 1.5° Celsius rather than 2° C as the global average temperature goal.