THE International Court of Justice’s (ICJ’s) dictum on climate change is “historic”, the Moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee, the Rt Revd Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, has said.
On Wednesday, the ICJ, located in The Hague, said that “states have an obligation to protect the environment from greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions and act with due diligence and cooperation to fulfil this obligation”. This includes the goal to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, as agreed under the 2015 Paris Agreement (News, 10 December 2015).
In a statement released on Thursday, the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) said that the opinion was “the culmination of a bold and visionary campaign” by Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC), who were “defending their culture, land, and future”.
In 2019, PISFCC campaigned for the ICJ to “issue a human rights opinion on States’ obligations to act on climate change and address ongoing harm”.
The director of PISFCC, Vishal Prasad, said: “This ruling is a lifeline for Pacific communities on the frontline. The ICJ’s decision brings us closer to a world where governments can no longer turn a blind eye to their legal responsibilities. It affirms a simple truth of climate justice: those who did the least to fuel this crisis deserve protection, reparations, and a future.”
The Court further said that, if these obligations were breached by states, then they could incur legal responsibility, and “may be required to cease the wrongful conduct, offer guarantees of non-repetition and make full reparation depending on the circumstances”. The opinion is, however, non-binding.
Dr Bedford-Strohm responded in a statement to the ICJ statement: “Even though as an advisory opinion it is not binding for States, it will be a highly relevant legal orientation by the highest judicial body on this globe.
“No longer is it possible to live a life now, for which people in the future must pay the bill. What has long been seen by churches, religious communities, and nongovernmental organizations as a moral obligation has now been stated as a legal obligation.”
Christian Aid’s Global Advocacy Lead, Mariana Paoli, said in a statement that Christian Aid “welcomes this decision” and that it was “a seismic win for climate justice.”
“The ICJ has made it crystal clear: big polluters can’t dodge responsibility any longer,” she said. “For communities already living the nightmare of climate breakdown, this ruling is a lifeline. It affirms that rich nations have a legal duty to cut emissions fast and pay up for the damage they’ve caused.
“Now governments must act — ditch fossil fuels, deliver climate finance as grants not loans, and stop sacrificing the vulnerable for profit. The law has spoken. The era of impunity is over.”
Christian Climate Action said in a statement that it was “grateful for the faith and persistence of our brothers and sisters, especially those young people from the Pacific, whose work over the last six years brought us to this important moment”.
It continued: “Our Government must now embody these legal obligations within domestic laws and policy. There is no time to lose, and as part of our prophetic Christian calling we must all be active in holding them to account on this.”