State Responsibility for Disrupting Earth’s Climate System: Anticipating the ICJ Advisory Opinion

Authors

Natalia Urzola, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
Nicholas A. Robinson, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
Léonore Gaboardi Carandell, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
Daye Chen, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
Bryce Clark, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University
Madison Routledge Pettus, Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University

Document Type

Article

Abstract

In 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will deliver an advisory opinion on the legal obligations of nations with respect to the mounting damage caused by climate change. This ruling will definitively restate applicable international law, provide a basis for new global policy decisions within the U.N. General Assembly, and provide a predicate for new lawsuits in national courts. To be effective, remedies for breaching a government's duties to avert climate change will require a “collective remedy,” not merely financial compensation. This ruling was sought by law students from the South Pacific and elsewhere; this Article, also by young legal scholars, evaluates the scope and estimates the content of the forthcoming ICJ opinion.

Recommended Citation

Natalia Urzola, Nicholas A. Robinson, Léonore Gaboardi Carandell, Daye Chen, Bryce Clark, and Madison Routledge Pettus, State Responsibility for Disrupting Earth’s Climate System: Anticipating the ICJ Advisory Opinion, 55 Env’t L. Rep. 10073 (2025), https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/lawfaculty/1287.