The Role and Limits of the International Court of Justice in International Environmental Law

Abstract

The contribution of the International Court of Justice to international environmental law has been comparatively modest. Since it first emerged in the early 20th century, international environmental law has developed primarily through negotiations among States rather than judicial decisions. Although the increasing judicialization of international law in recent decades has included an uptick in environmental litigation, most of this litigation has taken place in specialized tribunals such as the regional human rights courts, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Mechanism, not the International Court of Justice. Today, even on the most generous accounting, the ‘environmental’ decisions of the Court still number in the single digits and, for the most part, have taken a rather conservative approach, lending the Court’s authority to well-established principles rather than breaking new ground. This chapter reviews the substantive contributions of the ICJ to international environmental law, and assesses its role and limits as an actor in the international environmental process.

Keywords: International Court of Justice, International Environmental Law, courts

JEL Classification: K32, K33