DLA Piper guides governments through ICJ hearings on landmark climate change advisory opinion

DLA Piper has provided pro bono assistance to the governments of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, the Kingdom of Tonga, Solomon Islands, and the Republic of Zambia in International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearings on the landmark advisory opinion in relation to states’ climate change obligations.

The court’s consensus confirmed that states are legally bound by international law to shield the climate system from greenhouse gas emissions, including duties under climate treaties, other environmental treaties, the law of the sea, customary international law and human rights law. Thus, states can be charged with internationally wrongful acts if they do not regulate emissions in their jurisdictions with due diligence.

States that neglect their obligations must not only stop the wrongful conduct but also offer “full reparation through restitution, compensation, or satisfaction to injured states that can demonstrate a sufficiently direct causal link to the harm suffered”, DLA Piper said. The ICJ ruled that temporal scope, causation and related issues of responsibility would be determined on a case-by-case basis.