Welcomes the unanimous advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice of 23 July 2025 on the obligations of States in respect of climate change, and affirms the importance of the Court’s advisory opinion as an authoritative contribution to the clarification of existing international law;
2
Calls uponall States to comply with their respective obligations under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, as identified by the Court, such as:
a
Preventing significant harm to the environment by acting with due diligence, recognizing that the Court found that the standard of due diligence for preventing significant harm to the climate system is stringent, and using all means at their disposal to prevent activities carried out within their jurisdiction or control from causing significant harm to the climate system and other parts of the environment, in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities;
b
Cooperating with each other in good faith to prevent significant harm to the climate system and other parts of the environment, which requires sustained and continuous forms of cooperation by States when taking measures to prevent such harm;
c
Respecting and ensuring the effective enjoyment of human rights of peoples and individuals under international law, by taking necessary measures to protect the climate system and other parts of the environment;
3
Calls uponall Parties to the Paris Agreement to comply with their respective treaty obligations, as identified by the Court, and in accordance with their common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances;
4
UrgesStates, in the context of the Paris Agreement and their different national circumstances, pathways and approaches, to implement measures to achieve the collective temperature goal of holding the increase in the global average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre‑industrial levels, in keeping with the best available science, including by tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements by 2030, transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly and equitable manner and so as to reach net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science, and by phasing out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies that do not address energy poverty or just transitions as soon as possible;
5
Calls uponStates to ensure the full, meaningful and equal participation of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, people of African descent, women and girls, children and youth, persons with disabilities and people in vulnerable situations in decision-making on climate action, where appropriate, including through access to information and access to justice;
6
Recalls that the Court found that the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea do not require States Parties, in the context of physical changes resulting from sea level rise, to update their charts or lists of geographical coordinates that show the baselines and outer limit lines of their maritime zones once they have been duly established in conformity with the Convention, and affirms that this provides essential legal certainty;
7
Also recalls that the Court found that, once a State is established, the disappearance of one of its constituent elements would not necessarily entail the loss of its statehood, and affirms the continuity of statehood in the face of sea level rise;
8
Further recalls the Court’s finding that States have obligations under the principle of non‑refoulement where there are substantial grounds for believing that there is a real risk of irreparable harm to the right to life in breach of article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights11 if individuals are returned to their country of origin;
Calls uponall States to act in accordance with their respective international obligations, noting the Court’s finding in its advisory opinion that a breach by a State of any of the obligations identified by the Court in relation to climate change constitutes an internationally wrongful act entailing the responsibility of that State, that the responsible State is under a continuing duty to perform the obligation breached and that the legal consequences resulting from the commission of an internationally wrongful act may include the obligations of:
a
Cessation of the wrongful actions or omissions, if they are continuing;
b
Providing assurances and guarantees of non‑repetition, if circumstances so require; and
c
Full reparation to injured States in the form of restitution, compensation and satisfaction, provided that the general conditions of the law of State responsibility are met, including that a sufficiently direct and certain causal nexus can be shown between the wrongful act and the injury;
10
Requeststhe Secretary‑General, within existing resources, in consultation with Member States, to submit to the General Assembly during its eighty‑second session a report containing ways to advance compliance with all obligations in relation to the Court’s findings, taking into account the best available science and possible gaps in multilateral efforts to address the adverse effects of climate change in accordance with international law, without prejudice to the legal positions of States and without implying any determination of responsibility, while ensuring coordination, coherence and complementarity with existing mechanisms and procedures, including under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement;
11
Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its eighty‑third session an item entitled “Follow-up to the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on the obligations of States in respect of climate change”.
