Landmark climate change case opens at the top UN court

Two weeks of hearings into the legal rights and responsibilities of countries regarding climate change opened at the UN’s top court in The Hague on Monday, with the small island nation of Vanuatu urging International Court of Justice judges to hold the world’s polluters legally responsible. “Today, we find ourselves on the front lines of a crisis we did not create, a crisis that threatens our very existence,” Vanuatu’s climate change envoy Ralph Regenvanu told the court. Since 1990, emissions have increased by over 50%, reaching an all-time high in 2023.” Under water The small island states that initiated the case, leading the UN’s General Assembly last year to ask its highest court for an advisory opinion on the “obligations of states in respect of climate change”, say the legal route is necessary. “That is more than 23 times the figure that developing countries struggled to secure as climate finance in the recent COP 29.” He said despite pledges from large state emitters that have promised to achieve net-zero emissions, most continue to “promote, subsidise, support and plan on the expansion of fossil fuel production…lip service to climate commitment.” Professor Margaretha Wewerinke-Singh, lead counsel and advocate for the Republic of Vanuatu and the Melanesian Spearhead Group, said the legal remedies are well-established and include: responsible states ceasing their unlawful activity, such as expanding fossil fuel subsidies; enacting a “suite of regulatory measures for deep and imminent emission cuts”; reparations; and, for “harms that can’t be undone”, monetary compensation.