Climate Change

Page 2 of 35

Feature post image

Two Weeks in Review: 29 June—10 July 2026

July 12, 2026

Sebastian von Massow

“The test of a first-rate intelligence,” according to F. Scott Fitzgerald, “is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” For international lawyers in these times of the Board of Peace and the Gaza Riviera, this kind of functional cognitive dissonance has become less a mark of intelligence than a basic job requirement. But contrary to common usage, Fitzgerald did not have cynics and pragmatists in mind—quite the opposite. He continues, “One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless and yet be determined to make them otherwise.” In this spirit, commentators over the last fortnight have turned their attention to what Pope Leo’s encyclical Magnifica Humanitas can teach us about AI governance, China’s “quiet renegotiation” of UNCLOS and its application in times of war, and the continuity of statehood for soon-submerged island states—as well as the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s decision on the termination of the UK–Rwanda Asylum Partnership Agreement, battlefield medicine and the principle of unnecessary suffering, and the…

EJIL: The Podcast! Episode 44: One Strait, Many Chokepoints: International Law and the New Geopolitics of Energy

June 15, 2026

Justina Uriburu

The war in the Middle East has plunged the world into yet another crisis. Days are paced by minute-by-minute updates: at first, tragic reports of civilian deaths and incendiary threats from US President Donald Trump, now fragile peace negotiations between the United States and Iran. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has spiked oil prices and placed…

Is Deep-Seabed Mining Compatible with the Human Right to a Healthy Environment? Insights from the ICJ and IACtHR Climate Change Advisory Opinions

June 1, 2026

Samantha Robb

Naima Taafaki-Fifita

Michelle Bender

In 2025, following the 2024 advisory opinion (AO) of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea on Climate Change (here), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued their AOs on Climate Change (here and here, respectively). These historic AOs have generated extensive commentary. This blog…

Denial of Environmental Justice: Would a Bar on Climate Tort Litigation Be Inconsistent with New Zealand’s International Obligations?

May 27, 2026

Oliver Hailes

Like other countries that pride themselves on upholding the rule of law, New Zealand has seen many climate change cases decided by its courts. The most significant is the 2024 judgment of the Supreme Court in Smith v Fonterra. The country’s highest court unanimously allowed an appeal against the lower courts’ decisions to strike out…

The ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change: What It Means for the Convention on Biological Diversity

May 22, 2026

Margaret Young

Astrid Schomaker

This week’s General Assembly’s resolution welcoming the International Court of Justice’s Advisory Opinion on Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change provides significant guidance. It calls upon all 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…

First
Page 2 of 35
Last

Popular in Climate Change

A “Legally Binding Treaty” or Not? The Wrong Question for Paris Climate Summit

December 4, 2015

Joost Pauwelyn and Lilliana Andonova

Both media and negotiators are spending an inordinate amount of time on whether the Paris climate summit starting this week should lead to a “legally binding treaty”. For the EU Commission, it “must be”. For US Secretary of State John Kerry “definitely not”. For realist scholars of international relations this obsession is puzzling. In…

The Paris Climate Agreement: An Initial Examination (Part I of III)

February 7, 2016

Jorge Viñuales

Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of three posts analyzing the landmark December 2015 Paris Agreement, authored by Professor Jorge Viñuales, the Harold Samuel Professor of Law and Environmental Policy at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Law and the Director of the Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy, and Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG). Less is…

Experts Fantômes at the ICJ

December 2, 2024

Renatus Otto Franz Derler

The hearings for the Climate Change Advisory Opinion at the International Court of Justice (ICJ or Court) are fast approaching, scheduled to start on 2 December, with participation from over 100 States and international organisations. However, a statement released by the ICJ on 26 November revealed that the judges held a meeting with members of the Intergovernmental…

Reflections on the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Agreement

June 5, 2017

Lavanya Rajamani

Ending months of fevered speculation, President Donald Trump fulfilled his campaign promise and announced US withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement last week. He did so because in his opinion the Paris Agreement inflicts ‘severe energy restrictions’ on the United States and ‘punishes’ the United States ‘while imposing no meaningful obligations on the world’s leading polluters.’ This…