August 16, 2024

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The top United Nations court announced Friday that public hearings will open Dec. 2 in a landmark case seeking a non-binding advisory opinion on “the obligations of States in respect of climate change.”

The U.N. General Assembly sent the case to the International Court of Justice last year, with Secretary-General António Guterres saying at the time that he hoped the opinion would encourage nations “to take the bolder and stronger climate action that our world so desperately needs.”

The court said it had received written comments from 62 nations and organizations related to 91 written statements on the issue it had earlier received. Under the court’s rules, the written filings are confidential. The court can decide to make them public once the hearings open in early December.

The U.N, court’s panel of 15 judges from around the world will seek to answer two questions: What are countries obliged to do under international law to protect the climate and environment from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and what are the legal consequences for governments where their acts of lack of action have significantly harmed the climate and environment?

Here is the ICJ page for the case: Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change