World Court makes history, delivers first-ever advisory opinion on climate change

In a historic victory, nine small island countries have won a case related to climate change at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The world court backed the islands and ruled that all signatories to a United Nations treaty on marine activities must do more to safeguard the oceans across the world from the impacts of climate change. 

The ITLOS said that global warming emissions are a marine pollutant. The decision offers significant support for small islands facing climate impacts and also increases the bar for other countries to reduce their global warming emissions to protect the oceans.

The Tribunal ruled that states had an obligation to act and noted the high risks of serious as well as irreversible harm to the marine environment.

The advisory opinion by the Tribunal found that signatories to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea’s responsibilities to put a stop to marine pollution extend to greenhouse gas emissions, which cause major harm to the oceans as they change the earth’s atmosphere. 

According to the information, the request had been submitted to the Tribunal by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law (COSIS) in December 2022. 

Following the ruling, COSIS hailed the advisory opinion from the world court as a ‘tremendous legal victory’. The Commission outlined that the court made history by delivering the first ever advisory opinion on climate change and oceans. 

The island states had asked the ITLOS to clarify what was considered as marine pollution under the convention amid an increase in ocean temperatures and ocean acidification which is driven by fossil fuels and other greenhouse gas emissions. 

The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, one of the leaders that brought the case said that small island countries were fighting for their survival because of the emissions of big polluters. He noted that some will become uninhabitable in the future due to the failure to control greenhouse gas emissions. 

PM Browne stated that the islands demand that the significant polluters respect international law and prevent the catastrophic harm against the islands before it is too late. 

Meanwhile, the nine states which joined the COSIS case include Antigua and Barbuda, Niue, Palau, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Tuvalu, as well as Vanuatu. 

A representative of the South Pacific Island of Tuvalu, Eselealofa Apinelu said that the opinion passed on Tuesday made clear that all states are legally bound to protect the oceans and marine environment, and other states, from the existential threats of climate change.  She called it a significant first step in holding the major polluters accountable for the impacts on oceans.