Christina
Persico, RNZ Pacific bulletin
editor
Vanuatu’s climate envoy says they are pushing
on with their UN
resolution on the International Court of Justice’s climate
opinion, despite resistance from the US.
The 2025
opinion found
that failing to protect people from climate change could
violate international law.
But the Associated
Press reported the US State Department telling its
embassies and consulates it strongly objects to the proposal
being discussed by the General Assembly; and that its
adoption “could pose a major threat to US
industry”.
“President Trump has delivered a very clear
message: that the UN and many nations of the world have gone
wildly off track, exaggerating climate change into the
world’s greatest threat,” a cable obtained by the AP
said.
Vanuatu’s climate envoy Ralph Regenvanu told
the ABC’s Pacific Beat that they are pressing
on.
“The US has made that statement when it received
the text of the resolution. We are continuing with the
normal process and we very much hope that they will engage
in this normal multilateral process,” he said.
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“We
note their concerns but we’re continuing with the inclusive
consultation process to enable all states to have the equal
opportunity to provide the input into the draft resolution
and we’ll see what happens.”
Regenvanu said the US
pushback gave him a sense of deja vu.
He said it’s
unfortunate but they’ve seen something similar before – at
the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) vote on a
greenhouse gas levy for international shipping,
ultimately leading to a delay.
“Last year we’d had a
very strong vote in favour of bringing that forward and then
when we got to the IMO in London in October, the US did
exactly this – they did a de marche to all countries not to
support it.”
The draft UN resolution is set to go
before the UN General Assembly next month.
Previously,
Climate Home reported Regenvanu saying the resolution
“will be about ensuring the court’s findings are not left on
paper, but become living obligations”.
He said it was
important to follow up the ICJ opinion with a further
resolution at the UN General Assembly, because countries
opposed to it could prevent it moving forward in other
forums, such as the UN climate negotiations, which require
consensus for
decisions.
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