The International Court of Justice ruled unanimously that high-emitting countries must legally address climate change, recognizing it as an urgent threat. The case, advanced by Vanuatu, highlighted the severe impacts of climate change on vulnerable nations facing extreme weather and rising sea levels. The ruling implies that non-compliance may lead to reparations from polluting countries to those severely affected. Experts call for holding both corporations and governments accountable under international law.
Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's minister for climate change, states, "Countries in the Pacific, communities in the Pacific, are suffering from something which they did not cause. It's been caused by private actors that are being regulated by states in the West."
Sébastien Duyck, a senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law, states, "What we really need is to end an era of impunity and just actually rely on existing legal principles to hold polluters accountable, whether they are corporate or governmental."
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