Top emitter China tells World Court that UN treaties should provide the basis

4/12/2024 6:08

        China told the top U.N.
        court on Tuesday that existing U.N. treaties should provide the
        basis for its advisory opinion on states' legal obligations to
        fight global warming and address the consequences of their
        historic contributions to it.
        The U.N. General Assembly, after a campaign spearheaded by small
        island states, asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to
        issue an opinion on countries' legal responsibility for the
        negative impact of climate change. One of those states, Vanuatu,
        on Monday asked the court to recognise the harms climate change
        had caused and order reparations for its consequences.
        China, one of the world's top two emitters of the greenhouse
        gases that cause global warming together with the U.S., said it
        understood the "enormous difficulties" faced by developing
        countries such as the small island states, which are vulnerable
        especially to rising sea levels and increasingly violent storms.
        
        But Ma Xinmin, a legal advisor in China's foreign ministry,
        told the court that the existing treaties produced by
        U.N.-backed climate change negotiations, which include many
        non-binding provisions, should be the benchmark for determining
        states' obligations.
        
        "China hopes that the court will uphold the U.N. climate
        change negotiations mechanism as the primary channel for global
        climate governance," Ma said.
        
        While advisory opinions from the ICJ, often called the World
        Court, are not binding, they are legally and politically
        significant.
        
        Experts say its eventual opinion on climate change will
        probably be cited in climate change-driven lawsuits in courts
        from Europe to Latin America and beyond.
        Over a hundred states and organisations will give their views in
        the coming weeks. The United States is due to address the court
        on Wednesday. The court's opinion is expected to be delivered in
        2025.