Five years ago, UUSC partner Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change (PISFCC) developed a bold and innovative solution to climate change. For decades, global leaders acknowledged the reality of the looming climate crisis. But the world’s highest court—the United Nations (UN) International Court of Justice (ICJ)—never pushed for a just and equitable response. A group of 27 students at the University of the South Pacific came together to change this. They founded PISFCC in 2019 with a long-term vision to secure an advisory opinion—informing governments of their obligations to address the climate crisis—from the ICJ.

The first stage of any campaign at the United Nations is to organize member states to support your initiative. In the years after its founding, PISFCC worked to get as many countries of the world as possible to join their call for a Climate Justice Advisory Opinion. They began by focusing on Pacific Island nations. These countries have done little historically to contribute to the climate crisis—which is primarily the fault of rich industrial countries polluting the earth with greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, Pacific States are facing some of the worst and most imminent effects of the climate crisis. They have a clear stake in the struggle for an equitable advisory opinion.

UUSC first learned about PISFCC’s struggle for a climate justice Advisory Opinion (AO) at the Pacific Climate Justice Summit in August 2021. Speaking at this summit—which was intended to develop a shared strategy for Pacific activists in preparation for the next meeting of the UN’s annual climate change conference—PISFCC articulated an inspiring vision to, “take the world’s largest threat to human rights to the world’s highest court of justice.” As PISFCC’s campaign director, Solomon Yeo, put it at the time: “We’re seeking from the world’s highest court an opinion that will carry the weight of the court which we will use to fight climate change.”

Just three years after beginning their campaign for the AO, PISFCC achieved a major victory in their efforts to secure UN member states’ support for the initiative. In August 2022, the Pacific Island Forum met for its annual Leader’s Meeting. By the end of the meeting, PISFCC earned the unanimous support of the Forum for the advisory opinion. This was a key milestone on the journey to winning the full backing of the UN General Assembly (GA). The Forum’s 18 member states called on the UN GA to pass a resolution to advance PISFCC’s goal of requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice.

After securing the support of Pacific States, PISFCC turned their attention to the full UN General Assembly. They therefore moved their campaign to New York and started organizing partners across the world to endorse the call for the AO. UUSC met with PISFCC at a UN side event in New York, witnessing their eye-catching strategy to draw attention to the AO campaign. PISFCC organized a flotilla of vessels to sail past the UN headquarters so world leaders would see first-hand youth from around the world demanding a safe and liveable future. UUSC meanwhile worked to organize our members in the United States to back the AO proposal. 

In 2023, PISFCC achieved another extraordinary milestone in their campaign, when the UN General Assembly voted—without any recorded opposition—to request an advisory opinion from the ICJ. This was the first AO request ever to be approved by consensus, meaning that no member state objected to the resolution’s passage. However, two of the world’s largest polluters —the United States and China—did not expressly back the resolution either. We therefore have more work to do to ensure that U.S. leaders come forward to support this campaign. UUSC continues to organize our members to press U.S. officials to back the AO initiative.

The next step in securing the AO is to equip the court with the information it needs to address the climate crisis. To ensure the ICJ issues the best and most comprehensive opinion possible, PISFCC and its allies pushed states and international organizations to file written and oral submissions to the court, detailing the human rights implications of climate change.The ICJ received 91 written submissions and 62 written comments on those submissions.This makes it the largest case ever before the ICJ.

On December 2, 2024, states and international organizations presented oral arguments to the court. PISFCC and its allies worked to ensure that people with lived experience of the climate crisis were on the ground in the Hague for hearings. Witnesses play a limited role in ICJ proceedings, so PISFCC started a digital “Witness Stand” where people around the world can film messages for the judges of the ICJ to encourage them to issue the strongest and most progressive opinion possible. UUSC supported PISFCC and the group’s People’s Hearing, an event that ran concurrent to the ICJ hearing itself.

We expect the opinion to be issued in 2025. Advisory opinions are generally non-binding. This means that, after the Court issues its opinion, it will be up to the UN and its member states to decide whether and how to implement it. However, due to the status of the Court and the rigorous procedure used to develop the opinion, it will “carry great legal weight and moral authority.” Once the opinion is issued in 2025, it will be up to all of us to push states to address the climate crisis. Watch this space!

Rising seas, devastating storms, and climate harm demand accountability. Join Pacific Island students in urging the ICJ to deliver a bold decision for justice.

✍️ Add your name today: Together, we can protect lives, rights, and our shared future.

Created by Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

Art by Alexis Nicole Neely