On July 23, 2025, the 15 judges of the United Nations’ highest court, recognizing the “urgent and existential threat” facing the world, issued an advisory opinion. This opinion stated that nations can be held legally accountable for their greenhouse gas emissions. It also noted that those harmed by human-caused climate change may be entitled to reparations and that “climate harms” can be linked to major emitters and fossil fuel producers.
The Grassroots Global Student Movement
In 2019, 27 students from the University of the South Pacific in Fiji established the Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change. This group states:
“We seek accountability, a recognition of rights for those most affected by the climate crisis, and real protection from historical polluters. We believe in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of all women and all men, and of all nations, large and small.”
These students began persuading leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum to bring the issue of climate change before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Youth Organizations Join Together Around the World
In 2020, Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change joined with other youth organizations around the world to lobby state representatives to take action.
In 2021, the government of Vanuatu sought an “advisory opinion” from the International Court of Justice (ICJ). It formed a coalition of countries similarly vulnerable to climate change. All 18 members of the Pacific Islands Forum unanimously supported Vanuatu’s efforts. Vanuatu also engaged in discussions with countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America to urge them to join the initiative.
A Historic Ruling from the ICJ
Following three rounds of discussions with other nations and supported by 105 sponsoring countries, the U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution asking for an “advisory opinion” from the IJC on March 29, 2023.
The resolution requested that the ICJ pay special attention to various laws and principles, including three U.N. climate change treaties: the 1994 UNFCCC, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to keep global temperature rise below two degrees C above pre-industrial levels or limit the increase to 1.5 degrees. The resolution also called on the ICJ to honor the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and to consider states that are “specifically affected” or are “particularly vulnerable” to the effects of climate change.
This past July, the Court issued its decision in response to the resolution. The ICJ unanimously supported the call for countries to take significant action to prevent further climate change. Specifically, states should aim to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C. The Court’s decision is not legally binding but could support and catalyze further efforts by groups most impacted by climate change to advocate for additional climate change mitigation efforts.
The Trump Administration’s Response
On July 23, 2025, the same day the ICJ released its decision, the Trump administration’s Department of Energy released a 140-page report: A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate.
On August 13, 2025, the group Carbon Brief posted an article highlighting over 100 false or misleading claims in the Department of Energy’s report. Carbon Brief reached out to a diverse group of climate scientists, including some mentioned in the Department of Energy’s review, to fact-check the assertions presented in the report, such as the idea that warming may have less economic impact than widely thought and that “overly aggressive [emissions] reduction strategies might be more harmful than helpful.”
The Carbon Brief authors write, “The report is designed to provide a scientific underpinning to one flank of the Trump administration’s plans to rescind a finding that serves as the legal prerequisite for federal emissions regulation. (The second flank is about legal authority to regulate emissions.)”
For more news about Earth democracy, climate justice, and the upcoming COP30 Conference in November, email earthdemocracy@wilpfus.org.
Much of the information for this article was sourced from Carbon Brief’s piece: “ICJ: What the world court’s landmark opinion means for climate change.” For further information on this topic, please read the article.
