What Does the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Climate Change Mean for Environmental Impact Assessments?

This briefing from the International Institute for Sustainable Development examines the implications of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on the Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs). It specifically focuses on the requirement for states to include end-use emissions from fossil fuels in their assessments to comply with international law and reduce legal risk.

• The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled that environmental impact assessments (EIAs) must now include end-use emissions resulting from the burning of extracted fossil fuels. This ruling aligns with previous decisions made by the European Free Trade Association Court and the United Kingdom Supreme Court.
• In the six months following the ICJ verdict, at least two national and regional court judgments have already applied this requirement to the calculation of anticipated end-use emissions for new oil fields. To mitigate legal risks, states are advised to update their regulations, laws, and guidance to account for all Scope 3 and downstream emissions.
• The briefing provides three specific recommendations for states implementing these changes: first, the assessment of end-use emissions should ignore whether market demand would simply be met by another project; second, it should be assumed that all produced fossil fuels will be combusted to prevent unsubstantiated claims by companies; and third, emissions should be assessed cumulatively in a global context and relative to global emissions reduction pathways and climate objectives.

APA

Jones,, N. (2026). What Does the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Climate Change Mean for Environmental Impact Assessments? International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/brief/icj-advisory-opinion-environmental-impact-assessment

Chicago

Jones,, Natalie. What Does the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Climate Change Mean for Environmental Impact Assessments? International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2026. https://www.iisd.org/publications/brief/icj-advisory-opinion-environmental-impact-assessment.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Jones, |first1=Natalie |title=What Does the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Climate Change Mean for Environmental Impact Assessments? |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=17 March 2026 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/brief/icj-advisory-opinion-environmental-impact-assessment |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{jones2026what, author = {Jones,, Natalie}, title = {{What Does the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Climate Change Mean for Environmental Impact Assessments?}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2026}, month = mar, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/brief/icj-advisory-opinion-environmental-impact-assessment}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }