State Responsibility and the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Change

State Responsibility and the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Change - One Step at a Time Reetz, Niklas S. Author aut Text xx# 2025 Verfassungsblog 2025-08-07 eng After the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its advisory opinion on Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change, many observers were quick to conclude that it “[opens] the door to a cascade of lawsuits” (Politico). The opinion is indeed an important confirmation that the rules of State responsibility apply in the climate change context. In this post, I assess the ICJ’s treatment of State responsibility in light of the particularities of climate change, especially the plurality of States that contribute to, and suffer from, climate harm. The advisory opinion places trust in the capabilities and flexibility of the applicable rules, yet defers complex decisions on questions like causation to a case-by-case assessment. CC BY-SA 4.0 Reetz, Niklas S. Advisory Opinion Climate Crisis ICJ International Court of Justice Internationaler Gerichtshof | Den Haag Klimakatastrophe State Responsibility climate change Internationaler Gerichtshof | Den Haag Klimakatastrophe 342 https://verfassungsblog.de/state-responsibility-and-the-icjs-advisory-opinion-on-climate-change/ Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH 10.59704/ca99ffd63031501e 250807 10.59704/ca99ffd63031501e Converted from MARCXML to MODS version 3.7 using MARC21slim2MODS3-7.xsl (Revision 1.140 20200717)