The ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change: At the Forefront of the Structural Transformation of International Law

Dr. Jannika Jahn LL.B.; Moritz Vinken; Khaled El Mahmoud

doi:10.5771/9783748968375

Summary

The ICJ advisory opinion on climate obligations marks a milestone in international climate law. It reflects a shift toward a more coherent order that limits state discretion in favor of global public interests. The opinion construes climate law as a systematic framework that strengthens the shared value of long-term, science-based climate protection through multilateral cooperation. Yet it remains unclear whether it can fulfill its promise by providing workable paths for redistribution, state liability, and compensation. The contributions explore this normative shift and the tensions that persist.
With contributions by Harro van Asselt |Juan Auz | Lovleen Bhullar | Jutta Brunnée | Dave-Inder Comar | Rashmi Dharia | Khaled El Mahmoud | Corina Heri | Jannika Jahn | Hellen Keller | Denise Koecke | Andreas Kulick | Andrej Lang | Phillip Paiement | Vishal Prasad | Malavika Rao | Jochen Rauber | Lillian Robb | Rozemarijn Roland Holst | David Scott | Nele Suchantke | Katalin Sulyok | Motitz Vinken | Christina Voigt This title is also available as Open Access.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2026
Copyright Year: 2026
ISBN-Print: 978-3-7560-3694-3
ISBN-Online: 978-3-7489-6837-5
Publisher: Nomos, Baden-Baden
Series: Beiträge zum ausländischen öffentlichen Recht und Völkerrecht
Volume: 349
Language: English
Pages: 238
Product Type: Edited Book

PrefacePages 1 - 8 Download chapter (PDF)
1. Authors:
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  1. I. Introduction
  2. 1. 1. The Advisory Opinion and the Systemic Integration of International Law in the Context of Climate Change?
    2. 2. The Proceduralisation of International Environmental Law and its Turn to the Future
  3. III. International Law beyond the State: A Careful Recalibration of the Public/Private Divide
  4. IV. The Integration of Science into Law
  5. V. Re-negotiation of the postcolonial international legal order
  6. VI. Conclusion
1. 1. Authors:
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    1. 1. I. Introduction
      2. II. The ICJ and the Advisory Process as a Global Public Forum
      3. 1. Systemic Integration
        2. Global Minimum Baseline
      4. IV. A Middle Ground Between Backlash-provoking Specificity and Issue-skirting Generality and Between ‘Making’ and ‘Applying’ the Law
      5. V. Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment
      6. VI. Conclusion
  2. Authors:
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    1. I. Introduction
    2. II. Consolidating the 1.5°C Maximum Warming Threshold
    3. III. Bringing Attention Towards Production-side Obligations
    4. IV. Reparations for Climate-related Harm
    5. V. Conclusion
  3. Authors:
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    1. I. An Opinion by the ‘World Court’
    2. II. ICJ as the First International Court to Interpret the Paris Agreement
    3. III. The Relationship between UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement
    4. IV. The 1.5°C Temperature Goal
    5. 1. 1. Obligations of Result
      2. a) Content of NDCs
        b) Implementation and Achievement of NDCs
    6. VI. The Role of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC), In the Light of Different National Circumstances
    7. VII. Legal Consequences
    8. VIII. Conclusions
  4. Authors:
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    1. I. Introduction
    2. II. Issues Common to Both Requests
    3. III. Issues on Which the ICJ Went Further
    4. IV. Concluding Remarks
  5. Authors:
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    1. I. Introduction
    2. II. Harmonizing Approach and Rejection of the lex specialis Argument
    3. III. Non-refoulment for Climate Migrants
    4. IV. Extraterritoriality
    5. V. Wanted: Accuracy, Boldness, and Clarity!
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    1. I. Introduction: How the ICJ Addressed Climate Displacement
    2. II. Displacement Framed as Peripheral
    3. III. States’ Claims pertaining to Climate Displacement before the ICJ
    4. IV. Teitiota and the Limits of Non-Refoulement
    5. 1. 1. Statelessness
      2. 2. International Cooperation
      3. 3. Loss and Damage
    6. VI. The IACtHR on Climate Displacement: A Comparison
    7. VII. Conclusion
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    1. I. Introduction
    2. II. Expectations
    3. III. Expectation Management and the Court’s Judicial Function
    4. IV. Conclusions
  8. Authors:
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    1. 1. I. Introduction
      2. 1. Rules, Principles, and Standards of General International Law
        2. Specific Obligations under UNCLOS
      3. 1. Systemic Integration
        2. International Courts as Reactants in the Catalysis of Systemic Integration
      4. III. Conclusion
  9. Authors:
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    1. I. Introduction
    2. II. Framing of Questions: Shaping Judicial Responses
    3. III. Attribution: Identifying Responsible Actors
    4. IV. Causation: Connecting Acts to Climate Harm
    5. V. Remedies: A Path Towards Climate Reparations?
    6. VI. Concluding Remarks
2. 1. Authors:
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    1. I. Introduction
    2. II. Five Take-Aways (and One in Five Parts …)
    3. III. Conclusion
  2. Authors:
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    1. I. Introduction
    2. II. Conceptualising the Future Through Custom
    3. III. Securing the Future by Entrenchment
    4. IV. Shaping the Future Through Legal Interpretation
    5. V. Conclusion
  3. Authors:
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    1. I. Introduction
    2. II. Establishing the legal time of climate change at the ICJ
    3. III. Temporal fragmentation across three tribunals
    4. IV. International law on a warming planet
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    1. I. Introduction
    2. 1. 1. The Duty to Prevent Significant Harm to the Climate System
      2. 2. The Duty to Cooperate for the Protection of the Environment
    3. III. Common Interests Guiding Interpretation
    4. IV. Sovereignty as Trusteeship: Responsibility and Solidarity in International Environmental Law
    5. V. From Vision to Practice
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  1. I. Introduction
  2. II. Strengthening Corporate Climate Accountability
  3. III. The IACtHR Raises the Bar
  4. IV. The ICJ Doesn’t Follow Suit?
  5. IV. Reading between the Lines
  6. V. Conclusion
2. Authors:
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  1. I. Introduction
  2. II. The Stage and the Actors
  3. 1. 1. Procedural: Emphasis on Testimonies
    2. 2. Interlinked Procedural and Substantive: A Global Audience
    3. 3. Substantive: Mixed Legal Vocabularies
  4. IV. The Opinion
  5. V. Conclusion
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  1. 1. I. Introduction
    2. II. Small Island States and Personal Narratives in the ICJ
    3. III. The Microhistory of the Vanishing Yam
    4. IV. On the Deferred In Concreto Assessment
    5. 1. 1. Reading Time in the Causal Nexus: The Precautionary Principle and Intergenerational Equity
      2. 2. Reading Time in the Causal Nexus: Reparations
    6. VI. The Epistemic Limits of the ICJ
    7. VII. Concluding remarks
1. Authors:
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  1. I. Introduction
  2. II. Science as the Backbone of State Obligations with Respect to Climate Change
  3. III. Harmfulness vs Wrongfulness of Emissions
  4. IV. Attribution, Causation: Climate Science in Establishing the International Responsibility of Individual States
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  1. I. Introduction
  2. II. Two Key Terms: ‘Climate Justice’ for the ‘Global South’
  3. III. Climate Justice and Equity
  4. IV. Obligations of States: Developed and Developing Countries
  5. V. Determination of specific legal consequences
  6. VI. Future of Climate Litigation
  7. VII. Conclusion
2. Authors:
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  1. I. Introduction
  2. II. Self-Determination in Relation to Existential Climate Impacts
  3. III. Doctrinal Implications Moving Forward
1. Authors:
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  1. 1. I. Introduction
    2. 1. 1. Normative Refinement
      2. 2. Structural Refinement
    3. 1. 1. Systemic Integration
      2. 2. Integration Through Science
      3. 3. Embedding the Advisory Opinion in Human Experience
    4. 1. 1. International Law as a Framework for Cooperative Governance
      2. 2. Tension with Redistributive Justice
      3. 3. Finding a Delicate Balance between Law and Politics
    5. V. Conclusion