Failure to protect planet from climate change could violate international law – UN top court

The United Nations' top court in a landmark advisory opinion Wednesday said countries could be in violation of international law if they fail to take measures to protect the planet from climate change, and nations harmed by its effects could be entitled to reparations.

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Advocates immediately cheered the International Court of Justice opinion on nations' obligations to tackle climate change and the consequences they may face if they don't.

"Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system... may constitute an internationally wrongful act," court President Yuji Iwasawa said during the hearing. He called the climate crisis "an existential problem of planetary proportions that imperils all forms of life and the very health of our planet."

The nonbinding opinion, backed unanimously by the court's 15 judges, was hailed as a turning point in international climate law.

Notably, the court said a "clean, healthy and sustainable environment" is a human right. That paves the way for other legal actions, including states returning to the ICJ to hold each other to account as well as domestic lawsuits, along with legal instruments like investment agreements.

'Today, the tables have turned'

The case was led by the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu and backed by more than 130 countries.