The ICJ Can't Ignore Fossil Fuels

The authors contend that the ICJ has a legal and moral imperative to name fossil fuels as the root cause of climate change and mandate their phase-out. They argue that international law, including the transboundary harm and precautionary principles, requires States to constrain fossil fuel production and hold corporate polluters accountable. The text highlights recent advisory opinions from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) as precedents for a heightened due diligence standard regarding climate emissions. The authors criticize the political reluctance within the UNFCCC and the UN Human Rights Council to explicitly mention fossil fuels, asserting that legal clarity from the ICJ is necessary to overcome political paralysis and protect human rights, particularly for climate-vulnerable Pacific Island States.

• The authors argue that the ICJ should use its advisory opinion to name fossil fuels as the main cause of the climate crisis and define the legal duties of States to phase them out and hold polluters accountable.
• The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued an advisory opinion on July 3, 2025, stating that human rights law requires the control of fossil fuels and that the obligation to avoid irreversible harm to the climate is 'jus cogens', a non-derogable prohibition.
• The authors claim that international law principles, specifically the precautionary and transboundary harm principles, necessitate constraints on the production and use of fossil fuels.
• There is reported resistance in multilateral forums to naming fossil fuels; specifically, oil and gas-producing countries blocked references to fossil fuels in a Human Rights Council resolution on climate change in June 2025.

APA

Reisch, N., Gusman, J., & Khatri, U. (2025). The ICJ Can't Ignore Fossil Fuels. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/icj-cant-ignore-fossil-fuels/

Chicago

Reisch, Nikki, Johanna Gusman, and Upasana Khatri. The ICJ Can't Ignore Fossil Fuels. Center for International Environmental Law, 2025. https://www.ciel.org/icj-cant-ignore-fossil-fuels/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Reisch |first1=Nikki |last2=Gusman |first2=Johanna |last3=Khatri |first3=Upasana |title=The ICJ Can't Ignore Fossil Fuels |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=21 July 2025 |url=https://www.ciel.org/icj-cant-ignore-fossil-fuels/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{reisch2025icj, author = {Reisch, Nikki and Gusman, Johanna and Khatri, Upasana}, title = {{The ICJ Can't Ignore Fossil Fuels}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2025}, month = jul, url = {https://www.ciel.org/icj-cant-ignore-fossil-fuels/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }