Making The Climate Change Is Illegal
The International Court of Justice issued a ruling which said, among other things, according to The New York Times, “states must protect people from the “urgent and existential threat” of climate change, a major moment for the global environmental movement and for the countries at greatest risk of harm.” It is good news for those worried about the climate, but it has no teeth.
Among other things, it said that sovereign nations needed to protect their residents “international practices which would make their climate situation worse. Not doing so was an “international wrongful act.” Protection of the environment, the judgement added, was a “precondition” of supporting individual human rights. “The environment is the foundation for human life, upon which the health and well-being of both present and future generations depend,” Judge Iwasawa Yuji, president of the court wrote.
No one will care. No one will care. As our own David Callaway pointed out, the decision may be treated as a precedent in other legal cases, it does very little because it cannot be enforced.
Where the judgement may be important is in cases brought by people or governments against large fossil fuel companies. There are a number of these pending, most of which were brought by American states or cities. In all of them the damages will be based on harm done because of greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, some claim the companies have known about the problems for years, and have actively hidden this research. Will the International Court of Justice opinion help them with their cases against Big Oil and Big Coal? Too early to tell.
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