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UN vote backs ICJ
The UN General Assembly voted 141-8 to adopt a resolution backing a world court opinion that countries have a legal obligation to address climate change, with the US among the small group opposing it.
“The UN has voted 141-8 to adopt a resolution backing a world court opinion”
The resolution, brought by the Pacific island Vanuatu, affirms a July 2025 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that states are obligated to reduce fossil fuel use and tackle global warming, and it is not legally binding.
UN secretary general António Guterres said the vote underscored that governments are responsible for protecting citizens from the “escalating climate crisis,” welcoming “the adoption of the General Assembly resolution on the ICJ’s advisory opinion on climate change”.
The US deputy ambassador to the UN, Tammy Bruce, said the resolution includes “inappropriate political demands relating to fossil fuels,” and Washington saw “no basis for requiring the secretary-general to report on the legal issues raised.”
Opposition and abstentions
The vote drew objections from oil-producing and other states, with the US, Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Yemen, Liberia and Belarus opposing the resolution, while Turkey, India, Qatar and Nigeria were among those abstaining.
Fiji’s ambassador Filipo Tarakinikini said, “Climate obligations are not political aspirations, they are legal duties,” as the resolution sought political support for the ICJ advisory opinion in the Hague.
Tammy Bruce told the assembly that the resolution was “highly problematic” and said it called on states to comply with “so-called obligations” based on nonbinding conclusions of the court on which UN member states’ views diverge.
Vanuatu’s UN ambassador Odo Tevi framed the stakes before the vote, saying: “It matters because the harm is real and it is already here, along our islands and coastlines, for communities facing drought and failed harvests.”
What comes next
The resolution endorses and seeks to operationalize the ICJ’s guidance, calling on countries to comply with their international obligations as clarified by the court and urging measures to achieve the 1.5-degree objective through a transition away from fossil fuels.
“calls for “the phasing out of fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner””
It also revives language on fossil fuels, including a call for “the phasing out of fossil fuels in a just, orderly and equitable manner” to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and urges countries to eliminate inefficient fossil fuel subsidies “as soon as possible.”
Amnesty International’s Camile Cortez said the vote “marks an important step in advancing climate justice,” adding that states recognized they have legal duties to address the “profound human rights crisis posed by climate change”.
The US explanation of vote said the resolution “goes beyond the Court’s conclusions in several concerning ways,” including by amplifying legal errors and treating the advisory opinion as setting out binding obligations on states.
