UN Court: Countries That Harm Planet Could Be Breaking Law

For the first time, the United Nations' top court has declared that failing to protect the planet from climate change could breach international law. The highly anticipated advisory opinion delivered in the Hague on Wednesday "is likely to determine the course of future climate action across the world," reports Reuters. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) called climate change an "urgent and existential" threat and emphasized that a "clean, healthy, and sustainable environment" is a fundamental human right, per the AP. "Failure of a state to take appropriate action to protect the climate system ... may constitute an internationally wrongful act," court President Yuji Iwasawa said. What you need to know:

• Potential impact: The 500-page-plus opinion, while nonbinding, 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," per the AP. The outlet adds that activists could also file suits against their own countries for breaching the decision.
• Retroactively: The court also stated that countries negatively impacted by climate change could be entitled to reparations for the damage they've suffered.
• The impetus: The case was brought by Vanuatu, a Pacific island nation grappling with rising sea levels, and has the support of more than 130 countries. Judges were asked to do two things: clarify nations' legal obligations under international law to protect the climate from greenhouse gas emissions and detail the consequences of inaction or actions that do the planet harm.
• Scope: Deutsche Welle reports it's the largest case in ICJ history and involved oral arguments from almost 100 countries and 12 international groups.