We look ahead to the International Court of Justice official advisory opinion on climate justice which is due this month. What were the arguments made during the hearings back in December 2024, how much attention this is getting and how may it be received?
What are the obligations of states to ensure the protection of the climate? And, if that harm is committed, what are the legal consequences for states? These are the legal questions that Vanuatu pressed the United Nations General Assembly ask the court a couple of years ago. But these were also the questions posed in a classroom by a group of law students at the University of South Pacific around six years ago. Check out all the podcasts we have been doing on this!
Some see this advisory opinion as a last resort to achieve climate justice and a struggle to cling on to industrialized and polluting power. For others it’s about misinterpreting the law. In this episode we chat precisely about those tensions, emotions and the in-between perspectives from within the court, as well as the potential legal implications that could arise from a climate-positive AO.
We begin the episode’s guest insights with Vishal Prasad, the campaign director of the Pacific Island Students Fighting Cimate Change. Followed by Brenda Reson Sapuro, an environmental lawyer and the Africa Front coordinator for World Youth for Climate Justice, who told us what is was like to speak in front of the court. From a more visual-storytelling angle, Felix Golenko spoke to us about how he plans to turn a (what some would say is a) tedious legal process into a captivating documentary film for a broad audience… not just for the legal nerds like us!
Our main expert interviewed for this episode is Nikki Reisch, Director of the Climate & Energy Program at the Center for International Environmental Law. Nikki delved into the clearly polarized positions inside the court for the hearings and how this divide raises bigger questions of self-determination, morality and survival.
This podcast has been produced as part of a partnership with JusticeInfo.net, an independent website in French and English covering justice initiatives in countries dealing with serious violence. It is a media outlet of Fondation Hirondelle, based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
