In a rare show of global unity, countries adopt landmark climate ruling
Why this matters: environmental and climate reporting with long-term consequences.
About six years ago, law students at the University of the South Pacific convinced the government of the small island nation of Vanuatu to take the harms wrought by climate change all the way to the International Court of Justice, the world’s highest legal authority. Vanuatu, along with the students, waged a campaign to convince the court that climate change was a human rights issue and that countries have a legal duty to protect the planet for future generations. In 2025, the court sided with them unanimously. In a legally nonbinding advisory opinion, it ruled that the failure of countries to tackle climate change is a “wrongful act” and that other nations harmed by a warming planet may seek reparations. Now, the effort has notched another win. On Wednesday, an overwhelming majority of countries in the United Nations voted to adopt a resolution backing the court’s ruling. The historic decision signals the political support behind the court’s finding that countries have a legal responsibility to address climate change, reduce its impact, and offer reparations to those it has harmed. More than 140 countries voted in favor of the resolution. Just eight — including the United States, Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Russia — voted against (28 countries abstained from the vote). “This must be a turning point in accountability for damaging the climate,” said Vishal Prasad, director of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change and one of the law students who campaigned to take the case to the International Court of Justice, or ICJ. “The journey of this idea from classrooms in the Pacific to The Hague and the United Nations gives us continued hope that when people organize, the world can be moved to act.” The near-unanimous decision is a strong signal that multilateral cooperation on climate change has not completely unraveled. Over the past year, global unity on reducing greenhouse gas emissions has proven shaky. After Donald Trump’s administration announced it