World Court to open climate change hearings

People walk through water at a flooded area affected by rising sea levels and land subsidence in North Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov 20, 2024. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

The United Nations' top court on Monday starts hearings on the legal obligation of countries to fight climate change and the consequences for states of contributing to global warming, the outcome of which could influence litigation worldwide.

Vanuatu, one of the small island states that spearheaded the effort to get the International Court of Justice to give a so-called advisory opinion, will be the first of over a hundred states and international organisations to give their views in two weeks of proceedings starting at 10am (0900 GMT).

While the court's advisory opinions are not binding, they are legally and politically significant. Experts say the court's eventual opinion on climate change will likely be cited in climate change-driven lawsuits in courts from Europe to Latin America and beyond.

The hearings begin a week after developing nations denounced as woefully inadequate an agreement reached at the COP29 summit for countries to provide $300 billion in annual climate finance by 2035 to help poorer nations cope with climate change.

Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu's special envoy for climate change and the environment, said it was imperative fossil fuels be phased out and more money provided to poorer nations bearing the brunt of climate change, such as his Pacific island nation.

"We would like cumulative historical emissions that cause significant harm to the climate system to be declared unlawful," Regenvanu told Reuters.

Aside from small island states and numerous Western and developing countries, the court will also hear from the world's top two emitters of greenhouse gases, the United States and China. Oil producer group OPEC will also give its views.

The hearings will run until Dec 13. The court's opinion is expected to be delivered in 2025.