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A decade since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, two big outstanding questions have delayed action: Who is responsible for climate change and who should pay?
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On Wednesday, in a landmark advisory ruling, the United Nations' highest court said countries must address the "urgent and existential threat" of climate change by cooperating to curb emissions.
The International Court of Justice said countries need to meet their climate obligations or other states hurt by climate change may be able to seek reparations in litigation.
Despite being non-binding, advisory opinions carry significant legal weight and moral authority. The ICJ's ruling is expected to determine the course of future climate action across the world, as my colleague Stephanie van den Berg reports from The Hague.
In Washington, however, sources have told Reuters that President Donald Trump's administration will propose removing the finding that its leading environmental agency has used to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. This would make it easier for the world's second largest emitter to ignore the ICJ's ruling and undo major regulations limiting emissions.
This week we're also charting rising anxiety about AI data centre energy use, why China's neighbours are worried about its new mega-dam project, and how British companies are abandoning climate action.
LANDMARK CLIMATE RULING BRINGS HOPE
For the first time, the UN's highest court has made clear that states have a legal duty to prevent climate harm and that those responsible for climate change could be called upon for reparations.
The International Court of Justice said in its landmark ruling that countries were obliged to comply with the "stringent obligations" placed on them by climate treaties and that failure to do so was a breach of international law.
The opinion by the ICJ, also known as the World Court, was immediately welcomed by environmental groups and is set to determine future environmental litigation.
ActionAid Vanuatu Country Manager Flora Vano called the ruling a "powerful tool" to "demand that those held responsible for the climate crisis be held accountable."
The court also ruled countries' climate action plans must be strengthened and are not voluntary and that nations are obligated to reduce fossil fuel use.
The ruling is an important boost for global climate action ahead of the next round of U.N. climate talks in Belem in November, even though Trump's administration looks set to gut a key standard, paving the way for a rollback of U.S. rules aimed at tackling climate change.
COMPANY NEWS
Hershey, Nestle and other cocoa companies won an appeal this week brought by eight citizens of Mali seeking to hold them liable for child slavery on Ivory Coast cocoa farms. Campaigners have long sought to shed light on child slavery in often opaque cocoa supply chains.
The Trump administration's cuts to government support for green industries are set to hit Tesla's results. Regulatory credits bought by traditional automakers from electric-vehicle companies to make up for the tailpipe pollution from gasoline-powered vehicles have been driving Tesla's profits. But legislation passed under Trump is set to eliminate fines for automakers that fail to meet fuel economy standards. The fines underpin much of the demand for these regulatory credits.
On Wednesday, Tesla
(TSLA.O), opens new tabis likely to post its biggest drop in quarterly revenue in more than a decade, with the EV maker facing increased competition, a lack of new models and consumer backlash against CEO Elon Musk.
Climate action is taking a backseat at British companies, a survey of 1000 business leaders showed this week, with over half expecting to revise net zero strategies or targets. At the same time the UK has just green-lighted a massive nuclear project as it looks to reach climate goals.
ALSO ON MY RADAR
The rapid rise of power-hungry AI data centres continues to fuel anxiety about energy use. This week U.N. chief António Guterres called on tech companies to meet surging demand with 100% renewables, even as the industry turns to gas and coal to meet demand.
China has broken ground on what it says will be the world's largest hydropower dam. The mega-project could produce billions of kilowatt-hours of electricity annually but NGOs say the dam will irreversibly harm the Tibetan Plateau and hit millions of people downstream.
Reporting by Virginia Furness; Editing by David Gregorio
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Virginia Furness covers sustainable finance in London. She writes about how the financial sector is shifting to meet climate and development goals and the impact these changes are having on the flow of money, business, people and planet. She also covers development finance, carbon markets, natural capital and other ESG related issues.
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