The United Nations' top court on Monday starts hearings on the legal obligation of countries to fight climate change and the consequences for states of contributing to global warming, the outcome of which could influence litigation worldwide.
The United Nations' top court on Monday starts hearings on the legal obligation of countries to fight climate change and the consequences for states of contributing to global warming, the outcome of which could influence litigation worldwide.
Vanuatu, one of the small island states that spearheaded the effort to get the International Court of Justice to give a so-called advisory opinion, will be the first of over a hundred states and international organisations to give their views in two weeks of proceedings starting at 10 a.m. (0900 GMT).
While the court's advisory opinions are not binding, they are legally and politically significant. Experts say the court's eventual opinion on climate change will likely be cited in climate change-driven lawsuits in courts from Europe to Latin America and beyond.
The hearings begin a week after developing nations denounced as woefully inadequate an agreement reached at the COP29 summit for countries to provide $300 billion in annual climate finance by 2035 to help poorer nations cope with climate change.
Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's special envoy for climate change and the environment, said it was imperative fossil fuels be phased out and more money provided to poorer nations bearing the brunt of climate change, such as his Pacific island nation.
"We would like cumulative historical emissions that cause significant harm to the climate system to be declared unlawful," Regenvanu told Reuters.
Aside from small island states and numerous Western and developing countries, the court will also hear from the world's top two emitters of greenhouse gases, the United States and China. Oil producer group OPEC will also give its views.
The hearings will run until Dec. 13. The court's opinion is expected to be delivered in 2025.
More than 100,000 New Zealand teachers, nurses, doctors, firefighters and support staff went on strike Thursday, demanding higher pay and better fundi...
Russia captured two more frontline villages in southeast Ukraine and an island in southern Ukraine, its Defence Ministry said on Wednesday....
On Wednesday, Türkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held an official meeting with Sultan Haitham bin Tarik in Muscat, the capital of Oman, marking ...
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he had called off a planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing a lack of dip...
On Wednesday, Türkiye and Qatar signed two new memorandums of understanding (MoUs) in the defence sector, aimed at deepening cooperation and enhancin...
Global investors managing more than $3 trillion in assets have urged governments to halt and reverse deforestation and ecosystem destruction by 2030, according to a joint statement released on Monday ahead of next month’s U.N. climate conference in Brazil.
More than 200 electric buses from China have arrived in Tashkent as part of Uzbekistan’s plan to modernise its public transport system and cut carbon emissions.
Uzbekistan is strengthening international partnerships in the energy sector, signing several new deals with Gulf and U.S. companies to expand its renewable capacity, modernise production, and attract billions in investment.
When Climate Week kicks off in New York City on Sunday (21 September), it will mark the largest event of its kind yet, with organisers reporting a record number of companies participating and more events than ever before.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A tsunami threat was issued in Chile after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Drake Passage on Friday. The epicenter was located 135 miles south of Puerto Williams on the north coast of Navarino Island.
The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
A shooting in Nice, southeastern France, left two people dead and five injured on Friday, authorities said.
Snapchat will start charging users who store more than 5GB of photos and videos in its Memories feature, prompting backlash from long-time users.
A general strike and mass demonstrations paralysed the southern Tunisian city of Gabes on Tuesday, as tens of thousands of people demanded the closure of a state-run chemical plant blamed for a worsening pollution crisis.
Global investors managing more than $3 trillion in assets have urged governments to halt and reverse deforestation and ecosystem destruction by 2030, according to a joint statement released on Monday ahead of next month’s U.N. climate conference in Brazil.
A team of Argentine paleontologists has uncovered one of the oldest known dinosaurs, a nearly complete skeleton of a long-necked herbivore that roamed Earth 230 million years ago in what is now La Rioja province.
An earthquake of magnitude 6.7 struck Papua province in Indonesia on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said.
Five days after historic floods that have killed at least 66 people and damaged 100,000 homes, Mexico is still struggling to provide aid to the worst-affected communities and locate 75 missing individuals, amid growing criticism of the government’s response to the crisis.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment