Historic ICJ Climate Ruling Expected 23 July
Posted on July, 17 2025
On Wednesday, 23 July 2025, at 3pm CEST, the ICJ will deliver a historic advisory opinion on the climate obligations of states.
The decision follows an unprecedented legal process that began with Pacific Island law students and culminated in the UN General Assembly requesting the ICJ to provide an advisory opinion on two questions:
Many submissions to the International Court of Justice have rightly focused on human rights and transboundary harm. WWF made a submission that emphasizes the fact that the Court cannot lose sight of the inextricable link between climate change and biodiversity.
WWF argues that countries have a legal duty to protect and restore biodiversity, recognizing that nature is both threatened by rising emissions and part of the solution to securing a stable climate system.
Nature has slowed global warming, but ecosystems remain under serious threat. WWF highlighted to the Court that ecosystems under threat from climate change cannot perform their critical role in climate regulation. Healthy biodiversity is not just threatened by climate change – it's essential for a stable climate system.
"We will not succeed in having a stable climate system if nature loss continues. Our submission to the ICJ highlighted that states have existing legal obligations to protect biodiversity and nature from the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
How it all started
When the decision is delivered, it will be culmination of an unprecedented legal process that began in 2021 when law students in Vanuatu, facing the existential threat of sea-level rise, launched a campaign for legal clarity on climate obligations. Despite contributing less than 0.01% of global greenhouse gas emissions, small island states like Vanuatu and Tuvalu risk being completely submerged by climate change.
Under Vanuatu's leadership, a coalition of 132 nations secured unanimous adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution in March 2023, asking the ICJ to clarify the two fundamental questions.
Legal context
The ICJ opinion arrives amid a remarkable convergence of international climate jurisprudence. In May 2024, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled that states have legal obligations to tackle the climate crisis to preserve marine ecosystems. Earlier this month, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a comprehensive advisory opinion recognizing the "right to a healthy climate" as an autonomous right protecting the components of the environment.
These opinions – along with a pending request before the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (submitted in May 2025), represent an unprecedented opportunity to clarify states' obligations regarding climate change, across global jurisdictions. They have the potential to send powerful legal signals that states need to fulfil their duties under international law.
The ICJ's advisory opinion carries tremendous legal weight and will be an authoritative statement of the law. Legal observers anticipate the Court may address key questions including whether the duty to prevent transboundary environmental harm applies to greenhouse gas emissions; the steps states must take to minimise harm to others arising from their carbon emissions; how international human rights law intersects with climate obligations, and whether legal obligations extend to future generations.
1. The ICJ will deliver its Advisory Opinion at 3:00 PM CEST on 23 July, 2025, with livestream available here
2. Read WWF's submission to the ICJ (full version and summary), and see our earlier blogs on the ICJ advisory opinion here and here
Contact news@wwfint.org or Mandy Woods mwoods@wwfint.org to request interviews with our experts.
The decision follows an unprecedented legal process that began with Pacific Island law students and culminated in the UN General Assembly requesting the ICJ to provide an advisory opinion on two questions:
- What are states' obligations under international law to protect the climate system from greenhouse gas emissions?
- What are the legal consequences for states that fail to meet these obligations?
Many submissions to the International Court of Justice have rightly focused on human rights and transboundary harm. WWF made a submission that emphasizes the fact that the Court cannot lose sight of the inextricable link between climate change and biodiversity.
WWF argues that countries have a legal duty to protect and restore biodiversity, recognizing that nature is both threatened by rising emissions and part of the solution to securing a stable climate system.
Nature has slowed global warming, but ecosystems remain under serious threat. WWF highlighted to the Court that ecosystems under threat from climate change cannot perform their critical role in climate regulation. Healthy biodiversity is not just threatened by climate change – it's essential for a stable climate system.
"We will not succeed in having a stable climate system if nature loss continues. Our submission to the ICJ highlighted that states have existing legal obligations to protect biodiversity and nature from the harmful effects of greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.
How it all started
When the decision is delivered, it will be culmination of an unprecedented legal process that began in 2021 when law students in Vanuatu, facing the existential threat of sea-level rise, launched a campaign for legal clarity on climate obligations. Despite contributing less than 0.01% of global greenhouse gas emissions, small island states like Vanuatu and Tuvalu risk being completely submerged by climate change.
Under Vanuatu's leadership, a coalition of 132 nations secured unanimous adoption of a UN General Assembly resolution in March 2023, asking the ICJ to clarify the two fundamental questions.
Legal context
The ICJ opinion arrives amid a remarkable convergence of international climate jurisprudence. In May 2024, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea ruled that states have legal obligations to tackle the climate crisis to preserve marine ecosystems. Earlier this month, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a comprehensive advisory opinion recognizing the "right to a healthy climate" as an autonomous right protecting the components of the environment.
These opinions – along with a pending request before the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (submitted in May 2025), represent an unprecedented opportunity to clarify states' obligations regarding climate change, across global jurisdictions. They have the potential to send powerful legal signals that states need to fulfil their duties under international law.
The ICJ's advisory opinion carries tremendous legal weight and will be an authoritative statement of the law. Legal observers anticipate the Court may address key questions including whether the duty to prevent transboundary environmental harm applies to greenhouse gas emissions; the steps states must take to minimise harm to others arising from their carbon emissions; how international human rights law intersects with climate obligations, and whether legal obligations extend to future generations.
1. The ICJ will deliver its Advisory Opinion at 3:00 PM CEST on 23 July, 2025, with livestream available here
2. Read WWF's submission to the ICJ (full version and summary), and see our earlier blogs on the ICJ advisory opinion here and here
Contact news@wwfint.org or Mandy Woods mwoods@wwfint.org to request interviews with our experts.
The International Court of Justice is located in The Hague, Netherlands, in the Peace Palace.
© CIJ-ICJ/UN-ONU, Capital Photos/Frank van Beek_Courtesy of the ICJ
The International Court of Justice is located in The Hague, Netherlands, in the Peace Palace.
© CIJ-ICJ/UN-ONU, Capital Photos/Frank van Beek_Courtesy of the ICJ