MEMORANDUM ON THE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR STATES OF INTERNATIONALLY WRONGFUL ACTS CAUSING HARM TO THE CLIMATE SYSTEM

The document asserts that high-emitting States have breached international obligations to prevent significant transboundary harm and protect human rights by allowing cumulative greenhouse gas emissions to degrade the global climate system. It argues that these breaches constitute internationally wrongful acts under the law of State responsibility, requiring States to cease wrongful conduct and provide full reparation—including restitution, compensation, and satisfaction—for material and moral injuries. The memorandum emphasizes that international climate agreements like the Paris Agreement do not preclude these reparations and suggests that the burden of proof for causation should shift to responsible States given the available attribution science.

• State responsibility for climate harm is established through 'composite acts,' where a series of actions or omissions over time—dating back to the industrial revolution—aggregate to cause significant transboundary harm.
• Cumulative greenhouse gas emissions satisfy the legal definition of 'significant transboundary harm' because they are physical consequences of human activity that cause serious and substantial adverse effects to other States and shared global resources, specifically the atmosphere and oceans.
• States have possessed the requisite knowledge to trigger preventive obligations since at least the mid-20th century, with some high-emitting countries aware of the risks by 1960 and all States by 1992.
• The failure of States to meet the objectives of the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement, including the failure to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C and the failure of developed countries to provide requisite finance, constitutes a breach of conventional law.
• Climate change violates international human rights law by threatening the rights to life, health, water, food, and culture, and these obligations apply both domestically and extraterritorially to present and future generations.
• Legal consequences for these internationally wrongful acts include the duty of cessation (halting harmful conduct and phasing out fossil fuels) and the duty to provide full reparation for both material and moral injuries.
• Reparations for climate harm should include non-monetary forms such as satisfaction (public apologies and acknowledgment of suffering) and holistic rehabilitation for displaced populations.
• The Paris Agreement and UNFCCC do not bar claims for reparations or liability, as they do not displace preexisting and concurrent duties under the law of State responsibility and human rights law.
• Due to the differential access to information and the severity of the risk, the burden of proof regarding causation should shift to the responsible State to prove a lack of causation.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2024). MEMORANDUM ON THE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR STATES OF INTERNATIONALLY WRONGFUL ACTS CAUSING HARM TO THE CLIMATE SYSTEM. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Amicus-Brief-ICJ-Defining-States-Climate-Obligations-Reparations-Climate-Harm.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. MEMORANDUM ON THE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR STATES OF INTERNATIONALLY WRONGFUL ACTS CAUSING HARM TO THE CLIMATE SYSTEM. 2024. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Amicus-Brief-ICJ-Defining-States-Climate-Obligations-Reparations-Climate-Harm.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=MEMORANDUM ON THE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR STATES OF INTERNATIONALLY WRONGFUL ACTS CAUSING HARM TO THE CLIMATE SYSTEM |date=20 March 2024 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Amicus-Brief-ICJ-Defining-States-Climate-Obligations-Reparations-Climate-Harm.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2024memorandum, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{MEMORANDUM ON THE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR STATES OF INTERNATIONALLY WRONGFUL ACTS CAUSING HARM TO THE CLIMATE SYSTEM}}, 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-Reparations-Climate-Harm.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }