UN ruling offers lifeline to climate-threatened communities
The landmarks ruling holds that countries and big corporations have a legal duty to shield people from environmental harm
In its first advisory opinion on the climate crisis, issued on Wednesday, the court said that countries had a legal duty to prevent environmental harm, protect their populations from climate risks and ensure access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, which it recognised as a human right.
“Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system … may constitute an internationally wrongful act,” Judge Yuji Isawa said during the hearing. He called the climate crisis “an existential problem of planetary proportions that imperils all forms of life”.
The non-binding opinion, backed unanimously by the court’s 15 judges, was hailed as a turning point in international climate law.
“Though non‑binding, this ruling carries significant legal and political weight and is poised to guide courts and governments throughout our region,” said Charles Santiago, co-chair of the Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights and a former member of the Malaysian parliament.