Dr Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli's research helped inform the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion on state obligations in respect of climate change.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued a landmark advisory opinion on states' responsibilities regarding climate change. The ruling is significant as it is the first time the Court has delivered an advisory opinion about the subject and acknowledged climate change as "an existential problem of planetary proportions".
While advisory opinions are legally non-binding, they often influence international law and carry considerable normative weight. This ruling could open the door for countries to seek financial compensation and reparations for climate damages. It also strengthened the duties of states under the Paris Agreement, affirming the objective of limiting global warming below 1.5°C as the primary goal and calling on states to mitigate climate change with the 'highest level of ambition'.
Dr Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli advised the African Union (AU) in the proceedings, as part of the legal team led by the AU Legal Counsel Professor Hajer Gueldich, as well as Professor Makane Mbengue. Her contribution builds on her existing research on state obligations under international environmental law, including her monograph 'The Prevention Principle in International Environmental Law.'
The ICJ recognised the applicability of the duty to prevent environmental harm to the climate system.
Dr Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli's book is also referenced in the separate opinion of Judge Charlesworth, one of the judges who delivered the ruling.
During the course of the proceedings, Dr Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli spoke at three capacity-building workshops aimed at strengthening legal expertise on climate change within African Union member states that was attended by diplomats and lawyers from the 55 states. Her work forms part of a broader commitment to supporting climate law expertise of officials from the Global South. She also co-authored a guide designed to assist negotiators from the Least Developed Countries Group in climate negotiations.
This marks a new era for international climate law: the ICJ advisory opinion lays the foundation for accountability and signals a shift toward greater climate ambition, with important legal implications for national climate plans as well as increased potential for domestic and international litigation
Dr Leslie-Anne Duvic-Paoli, Reader in Environmental Law, Centre for Climate Law and Governance.
Dr Duvic-Paoli also took part in an expert online panel in relation to the Advisory Opinion at King's, co-organised by King's Climate and Sustainability, the Centre for Climate Law and Governance and the Centre for International Governance and Dispute Resolution, where she and other King's academics discussed the advisory opinion's significance for international law.
She also recently contributed to a recorded lecture with the United Nations Audiovisual Library of International Law on the duty to prevent environmental harm which offers a detailed analysis of one of the main obligations addressed by the advisory opinion.
