In the end there were “141 votes in favour, eight against and 28 abstentions,” according to a UN News account.
By that strong, if curious, margin the United Nations General Assembly passed an extraordinary statement yesterday, one that emphasized that “climate change is an unprecedented challenge of civilizational proportions and that the wellbeing of present and future generations of humankind depends on our immediate and urgent response to it.”
The Resolution was introduced, according to a release, by the Republic of Vanuatu “on behalf of the Core Group of States – Barbados, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Jamaica, Kenya, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States), the Netherlands, Palau, Philippines, Sierra Leone, [and] Singapore.”
By it, the large majority of nations not only welcomed “the unanimous advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice of 23 July 2025 on the obligations of States in respect of climate change,” but also, among other things, called upon all States:
- “[T]o comply with their respective obligations under international law to ensure the protection of the climate system and other parts of the environment from anthropogenic greenhouse gas
emissions,” and - “[T]o act in accordance with their respective international obligations, noting the advisory
opinion’s finding that a breach by a State of any of the obligations identified by the Court in relation to
climate change constitutes an internationally wrongful act.”
In a statement after passage, Hon. Ralph Regenvanu, Vanuatu’s Minister of Climate Change, said:
“Today the international community affirmed that climate change is not only a political and economic challenge, but a matter of law, justice, and human rights. For vulnerable countries like Vanuatu, this resolution is deeply significant because it confirms that no State is above its obligations to protect people, future generations, and our planet. This is a victory for multilateralism, for the rule of law, and for communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis.”
“No State is above its obligation to protect people, future generations, and our planet.”
See below for the full text of the UNGA Resolution. Long-time CPR Initiative supporters will, I think, immediately grasp its potential significance, given our coverage here, here, here, here, and here (two sets of live reports from the Hague) of the International Court of Justice’s debate over, and then issuance of its landmark climate opinion.
For its part, on the other hand, the United States yesterday voted against the UNGA Resolution, on the basis, among other things, that it included “inappropriate political demands relating to fossil fuels and on other climate topics.” In opposing the Resolution, the U.S. was accompanied by Belarus, Iran, Israel, Liberia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
In an apparently unrelated development, notwithstanding its lamentable coincidence in timing, the U.S. announced yesterday that it would slow the nation’s phase out of HFCs — potent climate-forcing agents that have been used as refrigerants but which, in my view, are no longer essential for such purpose.
We will have occasion to return to these matters in this space soon enough.