In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Environmental Law

03 Mar

[Dr. Juan-Pablo Peréz-León-Acevedo is a DPhil in Law candidate and a tutor at the University of Oxford. He also teaches at the Universities of Reading, Southampton, Oslo, and Abo Akademi (Finland)] While the ICJ’s Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change Advisory Opinion (ICJ-AO) has been extensively analysed, this post examines an issue that remains largely unexplored, namely, how the ICJ-AO and a specific domestic...

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02 Mar

[Aikaterini [Katerina] Tsampi is Assistant Professor of International Law at the University of Groningen and Rapporteur of the International Law Association (ILA) Study Group on “International Law, Human Rights and Islands”] On 28 January 2026 the District Court of The Hague (Court) issued its first-instance judgment in Greenpeace Netherlands v. The State of the Netherlands (the original Dutch text). The claimant...

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13 Feb

[Mohit Khubchandani is an International Disputes Resolution Attorney and PhD candidate at Leiden Law School, writing his PhD on "Forum and harm specific metrics of compensation for environmental damages (MCES) for major international courts and tribunals. Jason Rudall is Associate Professor of Public International Law at Leiden University.] Introduction The ICJ has handed down 3 of its 4 judgments in contentious cases on the question...

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19 Jan

[Debora N. Gunawan is an SJD student at the University of Michigan Law School] In late November 2025, a wave of torrential rains, cyclones, and monsoon-driven storms battered South and Southeast Asia. Devastating floods, landslides, and mudslides ravaged wide swathes of the region, from Sumatra in Indonesia to southern Malaysia, southern Thailand, Sri Lanka, and even the Philippines and Vietnam. Reports...

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09 Jan

[Maud Sarliève and Dr Pauline Martini are associate research fellows at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London] On 4 December 2025, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) launched its groundbreaking Policy on Addressing Environmental Damage under the Rome Statute: severe environmental harm can now be prosecuted as an international crime. This document represents...

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01 Dec

[Sude Kınık is a legal trainee at Kabine Law Office in Istanbul, Turkey] The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered its latest climate change judgment, Greenpeace Nordic and Others v. Norway on October 28th, following closely in the footsteps of its decision in Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland. In this new case, the Court reaffirmed and applied the...

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19 Nov

[This interview was conducted by Dr Stephanie Triefus, a researcher at the Asser Institute and Academic Coordinator for the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research]  The Annual T.M.C. Asser Lecture is an occasion for reflection on pressing questions of international law and is the Asser Institute’s flagship activity. Each year, the Asser Institute invites a distinguished scholar or practitioner to share...

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12 Nov

[Omar Grech is Associate Professor within the Department of International Law, University of Malta] Several excellent posts on this blog have already explored different facets of the ICJ’s Advisory Opinion on Climate Change, including its treatment of state responsibility and obligations erga omnes. This post takes a different tack. It argues that the Opinion marks a doctrinal breakthrough for the concept...

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07 Nov

[Amir Abbas Kiani is a collaborating researcher in International Law at Shiraz University, Iran] On July 23, 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued its ‘historic’ Advisory Opinion on Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change. As part of its reasoning, the Court examined the issue of lex specialis derogat legi generali (lex specialis) to determine “…the relationship between...

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24 Oct

[Meng Wang is a PhD Candidate in the International Law Department at Maastricht University, researching the protection of water in armed conflict across different branches of Public International Law. Andrés Cáceres Solari is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of International Law, Faculty of Law of Maastricht University, researching the compatibility of international humanitarian law with modern warfare] On 6 June...

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22 Oct

[Quazi Omar Foysal is a Bangladeshi-qualified international lawyer, currently pursuing a PhD at La Trobe University, Australia] Given that the Request for Advisory Opinion on Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change was limited to questions related to the obligations of States concerning climate change and the legal consequences of their breach in international law, the International Court of Justice...

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06 Oct

[Bin Zhao holds a PhD in international law] Climate litigation has moved from national courts to international benches. On 9 April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) spoke first. On 21 May 2024, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) followed. A year later, on 3 July 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) added...

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