Climate activists and campaigners demonstrate outside the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ahead of the reading of an advisory opinion that is likely to determine the course of future climate action across the world, The Hague, Netherlands, on July 23, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Judges with the United Nations’s top court say in a landmark climate decision that a “clean, healthy and sustainable environment” is a human right.
The International Court of Justice is delivering an advisory opinion Wednesday (July 23, 2025) about nations’ obligations to tackle climate change and consequences they may face if they don’t.
The non-binding opinion, which runs to over 500 pages, is seen as a potential turning point in international climate law. Enshrining a sustainable environment as a human right paves the way for other legal actions, including states returning to the ICJ to hold each other to account, as well as domestic lawsuits.
“The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is therefore inherent in the enjoyment of other human rights,” court President Yuji Iwasawa said.
Published – July 23, 2025 08:28 pm IST
