The “Ambassadors for Responsibility on Climate Change” (ARC) Initiative. Looking for an ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change and International State Responsibility

Because of the little progress in international climate change negotiations, academics and civil society started questioning whether and how it is possible to “provoke” proceedings before international tribunals in order to clarify the international legal principles and obligations concerning the limitation and elimination of greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. As international climate change litigation among sovereign States may prove uncertain because of the difficult causal relationship to be established between certain carbon emissions and a climate change damage concerning a particular State, the International Community is focusing its attention and efforts on how to achieve an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) through a request by the UN General Assembly. In our paper we thus present and analyze the “Ambassador for Responsibility on Climate Change” (ARC) Initiative, proposed by Palau -one of the Pacific Ocean State Islands running the risk of submersion because of global warming- at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the UN General Assembly so as to gather the necessary political consensus for the adoption of a UNGA resolution requesting an advisory opinion to the ICJ.