Opinion | Climate Science Is Now the Law

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By Nikki ReischJohanna Gusman and Rebecca Brown

Ms. Reisch and Ms. Gusman are lawyers in the climate and energy program at the Center for International Environmental Law. Ms. Brown is the center’s president and C.E.O.

The science on climate change has long been settled. Now the law is, too. On Wednesday, the International Court of Justice, the judicial branch of the United Nations, recognized for the first time that there is no way to solve the climate crisis or atone for its devastating consequences without confronting its root cause: the burning of fossil fuels.

Back in 2023, the South Pacific archipelago nation of Vanuatu and other climate-vulnerable countries, with the help of Pacific Island students, secured a United Nations resolution asking the International Court of Justice to clarify what existing international law requires governments to do about climate change and what legal consequences they face if their failure to uphold the law causes serious harm. The court’s conclusion comes on the heels of two other international advisory opinions on climate change and a growing number of national judgments.