OBLIGATIONS OF STATES IN RESPECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE (REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION)

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) submits that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) should interpret State climate obligations through a harmonized lens of multiple legal frameworks. CIEL contends that while the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement are relevant, they do not displace other primary rules such as the duty to prevent transboundary harm, human rights law, the law of the sea, or the law of State responsibility. The document asserts that these obligations apply concurrently and that compliance with climate treaties alone does not discharge a State's broader duties under international law, particularly regarding human rights and the protection of the marine environment.

• State obligations in respect of climate change are derived from multiple concurrent sources of international law, including treaty law, customary international law, and general principles of law, rather than a single legal source.
• The UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement do not exhaustively define State legal responsibilities and should be read harmoniously with the wider corpus of international law.
• There is no normative conflict between the climate agreements and the law of State responsibility, as the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement do not contain special rules that govern international responsibility for wrongful acts.
• Fulfilling obligations under the UNFCCC or the Paris Agreement does not discharge a State's other domestic or extraterritorial duties under international law, such as those found in human rights law.
• The climate agreements are insufficient for fully addressing State duties because they are silent on fossil fuels and lack mechanisms for legal consequences regarding loss and damage.
• Recent national and regional jurisprudence, including cases in the Netherlands, Germany, and Colombia, demonstrates that courts often find State mitigation measures inadequate despite compliance with climate treaties, based on human rights and constitutional duties.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2024). OBLIGATIONS OF STATES IN RESPECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE (REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION). https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Amicus-Brief-ICJ-Defining-States-Climate-Obligations-Applicable-Law.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. OBLIGATIONS OF STATES IN RESPECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE (REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION). 2024. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Amicus-Brief-ICJ-Defining-States-Climate-Obligations-Applicable-Law.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=OBLIGATIONS OF STATES IN RESPECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE (REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION) |date=20 March 2024 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Amicus-Brief-ICJ-Defining-States-Climate-Obligations-Applicable-Law.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2024obligations, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{OBLIGATIONS OF STATES IN RESPECT OF CLIMATE CHANGE (REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION)}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2024}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Amicus-Brief-ICJ-Defining-States-Climate-Obligations-Applicable-Law.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }