The (Potential) Role of the ICJ in Case of Climate Change
Forthcoming in: D.A. Farber and M. Peeters, Climate Change Law - Encyclopaedia of Environmental Law series, Edward Elgar, Chapter 13 (2016)
University of Oslo Faculty of Law Research Paper No. 2015-30
Posted: 4 Aug 2015 Last revised: 16 Sep 2015
Date Written: July 30, 2015
Abstract
Climate change raises complex legal questions of States’ rights and duties, both in the context of addressing climate change through mitigation action and when dealing with the effects of climate change through effective adaptation measures as well as climate change damages.
In all these contexts, international law matters. While a multilateral solution to these questions is currently being negotiated, there is the possibility that states may want to resort to adjudicative means as a way to respond to challenges of collective or national concern. It might be only a question of time before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will be called upon in the context of one of the many legal issues related to climate change.
This chapter attempts to map and analyse substantive legal issues that potentially could be subject to disputes brought before the ICJ or legal questions addressed by an advisory opinion issued by the Court.
Keywords: State obligations to mitigate climate change, due diligence, duty of care, proportionality, state responsibility, causality, no-harm principle
JEL Classification: K33, K32
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation