23 July 2025. "Today, the world’s highest court delivered a landmark clarification and upheld an incontrovertible fact: the climate crisis is sparing no community, place or human right across the world, and states that fail to take action must face consequences and deliver reparation", said Gaëlle Dusepulchre, Deputy Director of FIDH’s Business, Human Rights and Environment Desk.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) unanimously agreed that states have obligations under international human rights law as well as climate treaties to take all the necessary measures to protect the climate system and other parts of the environment. Crucially, fossil fuel production, fossil fuel consumption, the granting of exploration licenses, and the provision of fossil fuel subsidies can all constitute breaches of climate-related obligations.
Judges further confirmed that the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is an essential precondition for the enjoyment of all human rights for future and present generations. The statement comes at a time when frontline communities are already suffering the devastating consequences of anthropogenic climate change.
"The ruling reaffirms that climate justice and a just transition from fossil fuels are inseparable from human rights. It opens the door to holding governments accountable for the harms coming from their unambitious policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including those from private actors under their jurisdiction", Ms. Dusepulchre added.
The Court affirmed that many human rights principles apply in the context of climate change, such as common but differentiated responsibility, precautionary approach, sustainable development, equity, and inter-generational equity. It also stated all countries have a duty to cooperate to prevent climate harm, and that they must ensure their national targets represent the highest possible ambition and limit global warming to the 1.5-degree target.
"With its authoritative legal clarity, this opinion is a tool for courts, communities, environmental defenders and civil society across the globe to demand urgent measures from their governments that can protect our common future", Ms. Dusepulchre concluded.
The opinion is the result of years of tireless campaigning by Pacific Island students, youth and civil society organisations, and governments – particularly those of small island developing states. Their efforts led to the UN General Assembly requesting the ICJ’s view in 2023. The ICJ text follows a foundational opinion issued earlier this month by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, arguing that there exists a right to a healthy climate.