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vanuatu
Despite US Sabotage Efforts, UN Passes Historic Climate Crisis Resolution
The adopted resolution, brought to the UN by the low-lying island nation of Vanuatu, codifies the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change, which the ICJ issued last year. As UN News reports:
The resolution calls on all UN Member States to take all possible steps to avoid causing significant damage to the climate and environment, including emissions produced within their borders, and to follow through on their existing climate pledges under the Paris Agreement.
Governments are urged to cooperate in good faith and continuously coordinate efforts to tackle climate change globally and ensure that climate policies safeguard the rights to life, health, and an adequate standard of living.
Rebecca Brown, CEO and president of the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), was among those celebrating the vote as a significant win.
"The science is clear: fossil fuels are the principal driver of the climate crisis. The path to climate justice runs through a rapid, just, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy."
“Today, the UN General Assembly affirmed what the International Court of Justice made clear — that climate action is a legal obligation," Brown said. "With this resolution, countries carry the ICJ’s historic ruling forward as a roadmap for climate action and accountability in the years to come. This resolution demonstrates that multilateralism works, and that the global majority stands resolute in defense of the rule of law, demands meaningful accountability, and real climate action. By acting together, we can prevent further climate harm, in line with science and the law, by speeding up a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels, protecting climate-vulnerable communities, and advancing climate justice."
In a statement following the vote, UN Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the outcome as the passage of the resolution "a powerful affirmation of international law, climate justice, science, and the responsibility of states to protect people from the escalating climate crisis."
Guterres thanked the leadership of Vanuatu and the broader coalition of island nations and others who led the fight for the resolution and demonstrated "moral clarity" on the issue for all the world to see.
"Those least responsible for climate change are paying the highest price. That injustice must end," he said. "The science is clear: fossil fuels are the principal driver of the climate crisis. The path to climate justice runs through a rapid, just, and equitable transition away from fossil fuels towards renewable energy."
Samuel (L) and his father Phillip search through the ruins of their family home on March 16, 2015 in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Cyclone Pam has hit South Pacific islands on Saturday with hurricane force winds, huge ocean swells and flash flooding and has caused severe damage to housing. Aid agencies say it could be one of the worst disasters ever to hit the region. (Photo by Dave Hunt-Pool/Getty Images)
As Guterres championed the need for a redoubled effort to supplant fossil fuels with cleaner, more renewable forms of energy, environmental and human rights groups also championed the resolution's passage—especially in the face of opposition from the fossil fuel lobby and governments taking their side, like the US, Russia, Israel, and others.
In February, the Associated Press reported that the Trump administration—which has pulled out of the international Paris Agreement established in 2015 and continues to act overtly in the interests of the fossil fuel industry, which helped bankroll his 2024 campaign—was pushing members at the UN to mount a pressure campaign against Vanuatu to drop the resolution.
While US deputy ambassador to the UN Tammy Bruce claimed this week that the resolution included "inappropriate political demands relating to fossil fuels," groups like Amnesty International, 350.org, the Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN), and many others heralded its passage precisely because of the pressure it rightly places on the oil, gas, and coal industries.
“At a time when fragmentation between nations feels more visible than ever, the UN resolution endorsing the ICJ climate ruling offers a renewed path for international cooperation," said Amnesty's Camile Cortez, a senior climate justice campaigner for Amnesty. "Political and authoritarian choices by some world leaders, like rolling back climate protections or revoking phase-out regulations, have weakened global progress just when we need stronger climate action. Fossil fuel infrastructure alone poses risks for the health and livelihoods of at least 2 billion people globally, roughly a quarter of the world’s population."
"Today, the international community has affirmed that climate justice is not charity but is anchored in accountability."
Fenton Lutunatabua, the Pacific and Caribbean lead for 350.org, said the UN vote represents a "critical next stage" for the ICJ's landmark ruling that "was not meant to sit on a shelf," but instead lead to action in line with international law and the obligations of member states.
"This vote shows the vast majority agreed there is an absolute obligation to stop runaway climate change," said Lutunatabua. "Today, we get closer to that goal, and our children get closer to a safer, more secure future. Our communities also get closer to receiving justice for the suffering the fossil fuel industry has caused, and the havoc wreaked upon our shorelines as we pay with our lives and our pockets to rebuild after yet another cyclone, yet another flood."
PICAN director Dr. Rufino Varea said the victory at the UN on Wednesday "belongs to every community that refused to let their future be written off" by those who have disregarded the damage caused by the climate crisis driven by the fossil fuel industry and broader corporate greed.
“From the Pacific to the world, this vote is a recognition that those who did the least to fuel this crisis should not be left to carry its heaviest burdens," said Varea. "For generations, Pacific peoples have protected our oceans, our lands, and our cultures while facing rising seas, loss, and displacement caused by others. Today, the international community has affirmed that climate justice is not charity but is anchored in accountability. Accountability to frontline communities, to future generations, and to the shared responsibility we hold to protect life, dignity, the environment, and our collective future. This moment belongs to every community that refused to let their future be written off.”
Could an ICJ Ruling Help Shift Us From Climate Impunity to Climate Accountability?
And in America the Epstein case seems, at the least, to be making the White House sweat—they may well be able to cover up files, buy off witnesses like Ghislaine Maxwell, and shutter D.C. till things die down. But for once it’s not automatic—one senses that a few more Americans are seeing through to the ugly core.
Meanwhile, in the longest-running crime of all—the decades-old and ongoing effort by the oil industry, with massive amounts of government backup, to wreck the planet’s climate—there was an interesting new development. The International Court of Justice held this week that failing to protect the planet from global warming could be a violation of international law. As The Associated Press explained, judges in the Hague ruled that “countries could be in violation of international law if they fail to take measures to protect the planet from climate change, and nations harmed by its effects could be entitled to reparations”:
“Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system... may constitute an internationally wrongful act,” court President Yuji Iwasawa said during the hearing. He called the climate crisis “an existential problem of planetary proportions that imperils all forms of life and the very health of our planet.”
The ruling came in a suit brought by the low-lying island state of Vanuatu, and backed by 130 other nations. As United Nations chief António Guterres said:
This is a victory for our planet, for climate justice, and for the power of young people to make a difference. Young Pacific islanders initiated this call for humanity to the world. And the world must respond.
It’s not clear what this means in the immediate future—there’s no way for the court to force, say, Exxon, or the United States, to pay reparations for the damage they’ve done. As the chief judge said, international courts can play “an important but ultimately limited role in resolving this problem.” But for those nations that still pay some attention to international opinion (which would be most nations except ours), the ruling will be one more spur to action—it will certainly heighten the rhetoric and the stakes at COP30, the next global climate talks which will be held (sans America) in Belem, Brazil in November.
And it’s not as if there’s no chance that this will eventually mean something. European-based oil companies, for instance—which often have some state ownership and control—may be more exposed. "The legal consequences resulting from the commission of an internationally wrongful act may include... full reparations to injured states in the form of restitution, compensation, and satisfaction," said ICJ President Yuji Iwasawa on behalf of the 15-judge panel.
At the moment the oil companies imagine themselves to be unshakable colossi, astride the world because they control Washington. But as so often, it is in the moment of greatest hubris that disaster looms. Here’s an ominous little note for them: Chinese data yesterday showed that Beijing has managed to essentially end all imports of oil and gas from America. That’s a big change—as Bloomberg notes: “Crude is the most heavily traded commodity in the world and China the biggest buyer. In June last year, its purchases from the U.S. were worth nearly $800 million.” But no more—remember, China is currently installing 100 solar panels a second, and more than half the cars it sells have a plug dangling out the back. They’re figuring out how to say buzz off to Big Oil.
So imagine, for a moment, a scene in 2029, when the balance of power has shifted in Washington—and when it’s become clear that we no longer really need fossil fuels to power the world. It’s not impossible to imagine that an America seeking to rejoin the world, and needing to make amends for the utter stupidity of the Trump years, might not see the oil industry as a useful sacrifice to offer the rest of the planet. “Restitution, compensation, satisfaction.” Justice delayed is justice denied, as the British Prime Minister William Gladstone correctly remarked. But to everything there is a season, as King Solomon also correctly remarked.
At any rate: we keep fighting. Next stop on our calendar is of course Sun Day, and in honor of the glory days of high summer here’s a particularly juicy version of the logo that popped up in the global gallery this week:
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