COP 30 BELEM Mon, Nov 10, 2025 – Fri, Nov 21, 202 Mon, Nov 10, 2025 – Fri, Nov 21, 2025
Developing countries should go to the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
The real solution to climate change could be through international Law.
Since at least since 2009:
At cop15, the developing countries were calling for the temperature to not rise above 1.5 degrees and they were ignored and the Copenhagen Accord agreed to 2degrees
Then, at cop21, while the developing were still calling for the temperature to not arise above 1.5, they were ignored again
And then the developing countries, praised for their resilience for adapting to the climate change which has been caused by the developed states.
In 2024, the United Nation General Assembly sought a legal opinion from the International Court of Justice on Climate change
The response was the following:
“Not only what states are required to do under international law to avert further climate change both now and in the future, they also have to assess the legal consequences under these obligations both through what they do and fail to do, have caused significant harm to climate systems in other parts of the environment and harm to future generations as well as for those countries by virtue of geographical circumstances are vulnerable to adverse effects of climate change.”
However, a legal opinion from the court is not binding.
The court can, however, provide interpretations of international law via customs or treaties such as the UN Framework on Climate Change UNFCCC.
All states are party to UNFCCC.
The objective of the Convention in Article 2 is:
“stabilization of greenhouse gases at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. ‘Such a level should be achieved within a time frame to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to ensure food production is not threatened and to enable economic development is done in sustainable way.’“
Under Article 4 are principles. One is the following:
“The parties should take precautionary measures to anticipate, prevent, and minimize any adverse effects on developing countries. Lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing such measures.”
Given that the developing countries are the most affected but least responsible for climate change, perhaps developing countries could launch a case to seek an interpretation by the ICJ of both the article 2 and the precautionary principle.
Dr Joan Russow
She attended COP 15
Cop16 and cop 21
