Situating the ICJ's advisory opinion in the wider ecosystem of international climate litigation

Abstract Although international climate cases are a relatively recent phenomenon, the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) climate advisory opinion enters an increasingly well‐populated ecosystem of international climate jurisprudence. The ICJ's ruling, along with those of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) and the Inter‐American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) in parallel climate advisory opinions, has helped constitute component parts of this ecosystem. Moreover, cross‐references and synergies between the decisions signal the ICJ's advisory opinion as an important marker in the development of an international climate jurisprudence properly so‐called. This article traces how the ICJ's advisory opinion is situated within this emerging ecosystem of international climate change litigation—what connections it creates and what component parts it emphasises—focusing on key areas of synergy (regarding due diligence, private actors and responsibility) where there is evidence of the ICJ's ruling reinforcing the findings of other international climate advisory opinions. Commonalities in findings across the three opinions arguably provide the connectivity across otherwise fragmented parts needed to sustain an emerging ecosystem of international climate jurisprudence.