The highest court in the United Nations ruled on Wednesday that rich countries must meet their commitments to curb fossil fuels and to be held financially liable by countries that are the hardest affected by climate change.
The 15-person UN-International Court of Justice said that treaties force rich countries to curb global warming and that the countries were also responsible for the actions of companies under their jurisdiction or control, Reuters reported.
“States must work together to achieve concrete goals for the reduction reduction of emissions,” said Judge Yuji Iwasawa in The Hague. “The emission of greenhouse gases are unambiguously caused by human activities that are not territorially limited.”
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Climate activists and campaigners demonstrate outside the International Court of Justice (ICJ) prior to Wednesday’s opinion, which will probably determine the course of future climate change in Hague, the Netherlands, July 23, 2025. (Reuters/Marta Fiorin)
If you do not do this, this can lead to “complete recovery rates for injured states in the form of refund, compensation and satisfaction, provided that the general terms and conditions of the responsibility of the Law of State have been met,” the report says.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that the court’s advice confirms that goals of the Paris climate agreement should be the basis of all climate policy.
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Tuvalu delegation arrives for the public hearings of the Top Court International Court or Justice of the United Nations in an advisory case that can become a reference point in defining the legal obligations of countries to combat climate change, in Denhaag, the Netherlands, December 2, 2024. (Reuters/Piroschka van de Wouw/File photo)
“This is a victory for our planet, for climate justice and for the power of young people to make a difference,” he said. “The world must respond.”
Wednesday’s ruling was praised by a number of small nation states.
“I did not expect it to be so good,” said Ralph Rainvanu, the climate minister of the Pacific Island Nation of Vanuatu.
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Many developing countries and small island states have said that they are at a great risk of rising sea level. Some have clarified by the court after the fact that the Paris 2015 agreement does not correct the growth of global emissions of greenhouse gases.
