Human Rights in the ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change: Recognition and Restraints

Abstract

This article examines how the 2025 Advisory Opinion (AO) of the International Court of Justice on Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change places human rights at the centre of States’ climate specific obligations, with particular emphasis on the right to a healthy environment. It argues that, although the Court adopts a restrained and methodologically cautious approach, it nonetheless grounds climate obligations in core human rights treaties and customary human rights law. The article shows that the AO, when read alongside separate judicial views and recent institutional developments, significantly advances the normative consolidation of the right to a healthy environment and strengthens its trajectory toward customary status. At the same time, the AO leaves important gaps, particularly regarding intergenerational equity, the situation of especially affected States, and individuals’ access to remedies, highlighting both the limits of the Court's intervention and the continuing need for a more comprehensive human-rights-based approach to climate obligations.