The Pacific island nation of Vanuatu said on Monday that it is drafting a UN resolution to turn a landmark judicial opinion on states’ legal responsibilities to tackle climate change from words into “political action”.
Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s minister of climate change, said the resolution would be tabled later this year, likely after November’s COP30 climate summit, once governments’ responses to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling have become clearer.
He told journalists that Vanuatu was putting together a group of supportive countries – which he hoped would cover every region – to push the UN resolution forward, and he expected it would quickly gain backing from a majority of states.
The resolution “will be about ensuring the court’s findings are not left on paper, but become living obligations”, he said on the sidelines of Climate Week in New York this Monday.
In the ICJ opinion, handed down in July, the court’s 15 judges decided unanimously that governments have a legal duty to protect the climate. Breaching that duty, they said could result in the affected countries claiming compensation.
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Judges also said states’ responsibilities to tackle climate change are broader than their climate plans under the Paris Agreement and extend to ensuring people’s right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment under international law.
Government support for production and consumption of planet-heating fossil fuels may also “constitute an internationally wrongful act”, the opinion added.
The ICJ’s ruling stemmed from a March 2023 UN resolution which was led by Vanuatu, after a group of law students presented the idea to their government back in 2019.
Majority vote could sidestep opposition
Regenvanu said on Monday it is important to follow through on the opinion with a further resolution at the UN General Assembly because countries that are against it could prevent it moving forward in other fora like the UN climate negotiations, which require consensus for decisions.
Some countries have already voiced their opposition ahead of COP30. In an informal consultation with delegations held earlier in September, the negotiator from Saudi Arabia said “there is no consensus among parties on the reference to the ICJ opinion”.
“It’s not a negotiated outcome under this process nor is the product of intergovernmental deliberation. It would therefore be inappropiate to reflect such opinion within our work,” he added.
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In New York, Regenvanu said those positions can be expected “from certain states”. The climate minister added that the position is consistent with those states’ approach to climate action, which “does not yet reflect the urgency highlighted by science and international law.”
“But unlike the UNFCCC processes, the UN General Assembly votes by majority… There is no veto power to block this resolution going through,” Regenvanu said.
Vanuatu said the resolution is expected to formally endorse the full ICJ opinion, propose measures to overcome barriers and inequalities in current climate frameworks, and reinforce multilateralism as the foundation for a fair and effective global response.
