UN Top Court Says Countries Are Obliged to Fight Climate Change

One of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the fallout from climate change has won a landmark legal battle, giving countries new ammunition to pursue some of the planet’s biggest emitters.

In its advisory opinion, delivered on Wednesday, the International Court of Justice said countries have a responsibility to do what they can to limit global warming to the critical threshold of 1.5C, saying that failure to do so may violate international law. The ICJ sided with the South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu in a case brought two years ago via the United Nations General Assembly.

The ICJ said countries ...