The environmental NGO Opportunity Green has informed Bunkerspot that it has submitted a written statement to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), asking the court to confirm that States have legal obligations under international law to tackle climate impacts from international aviation and shipping (IAS) in accordance with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C temperature goal.
In a statement sent to Bunkerspot today (21 March), Opportunity Green said: ‘Aviation and shipping sectors contribute to nearly 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from international aviation and shipping (IAS) make up for more than half of that number. Yet, most States do not currently account for the emissions from IAS in their national climate pledges under the Paris Agreement, so-called nationally determined contributions (NDCs).’
Opportunity Green said this approach ‘goes against the very purpose of the Paris Agreement’ – which calls for a global response to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5°C.
The NGO argued that the existing International Maritime Organization (IMO) and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) emissions targets ‘fall way short of driving decarbonisation of those sectors to meet the Paris temperature goal’ – and individual States ‘also have standalone legal obligations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from IAS’.
Opportunity Green’s submission to the ICJ argues that the efforts of the ICAO and IMO are ‘additional to action under States’ individual NDCs’ – and it is therefore ‘not enough for States to leave the decarbonisation of these sectors to these United Nations bodies’.
Isabela Keuschnigg, Legal Officer at Opportunity Green, commented: ‘When it comes to international aviation and shipping, we are talking about major polluters that contribute significantly to the climate crisis – and yet they remain weakly regulated.
‘With a new, stronger round of NDCs due in 2025, and critical discussions underway at the IMO on the measures needed to implement its revised GHG strategy, this is a watershed moment to put these sectors on a clearer course towards net zero. The science is clear in that we need rapid and deep transformations across all sectors and systems immediately. In the face of inadequate action taken to date, we urgently need clarification of States' legal obligations to mitigate emissions from international aviation and shipping under the Paris Agreement. We’re urging the ICJ to confirm that international law obliges individual States to act decisively to address the substantive emissions from these sectors.’
With the IMO’s basket of measures for reducing maritime emissions currently being reviewed at the 81st meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) at its London headquarters, Opportunity Green said that it hoped its submission to the ICJ will ‘underline to States that their international legal obligations, particularly under the Paris Agreement but also the Law of the Sea, mean that they must confirm measures that set international shipping on a pathway to reduce emissions in line with 1.5°C’.
Keuschnigg added: ‘The advisory opinions currently in front of the ICJ and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea are contributing to increased judicial oversight of these sectors at an international level, and offer a crucial opportunity for international courts to confirm that there are no excuses for insufficient climate action. IAS as much as every other sector must be held accountable and play their fair part in the efforts needed to reach a decarbonised global economy.’
