The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea has ruled that greenhouse gases are marine pollution. It obliged the world's states to control and reduce emissions that contribute to climate change and set specific requirements for their environmental impact assessment.
This is reported by Reuters.
On Tuesday, May 21, the International Maritime Court in its first climate-related ruling stated that emissions from fossil fuels and other gases that cause the planet to warm, which are absorbed by the ocean, constitute marine pollution. Although this conclusion of the judicial body is advisory in nature, it may become a precedent for cases in other countries.
"What happened today was that law and science met in this tribunal and both won," said Cheryl Buzzard, the ambassador of the Bahamas, one of nine Caribbean and Pacific island nations that asked the court for its opinion.
The final document also states that the countries of the world must go beyond the requirements of the landmark Paris Agreement of 2015 to protect the marine environment and the states that depend on it. It states that greenhouse gas emission reductions should be set objectively, based on the best available scientific data and relevant international rules and standards, thus setting a higher bar than was done in the Paris Agreement.
"For those who hide behind the weaknesses of international climate treaties, this opinion makes it clear that compliance with the Paris Agreement alone is not enough," said Nikki Raisch, director of the Center for International Environmental Law.
The court ruled that states have a legal obligation to control and reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, and set specific requirements for their environmental impact assessment.
But it's worth noting that China, the world's biggest carbon polluter, argued in court that the tribunal lacked general powers to issue advisory opinions. He stated that this could lead to the fragmentation of international law. Therefore, the execution of the court decision by this global player is currently under a very big question.
At the beginning of the year, EcoPolitic reported that according to the results of the study, in 2023 world exceeded the critical warming of 1.5°C – the desired limit of the Paris Agreement.
