New UN climate accountability resolution marks important step in advancing climate justice

21 May 2026

Responding to the adoption of the climate accountability resolution at the United Nations General Assembly by overwhelming consensus, Nikita White, Amnesty International Australia's Strategic Campaigner, says:

"Amnesty International Australia welcomed the 2025 International Court of Justice's (ICJ) Advisory Opinion, which marked a significant step forward in advancing climate justice and protecting human rights in the face of the climate crisis."

By voting in support of this resolution, Australia and 140 other countries have recognised that states have legal obligations to protect human rights from the impacts of climate change.

However, by not co-sponsoring the resolution, Australia has missed an important opportunity to show leadership and stronger allyship to the Pacific and Vanuatu.

"Climate change is fundamentally a human rights issue, and Australia remains in a unique and powerful position. The Albanese Government must now ensure that Australia demonstrates climate leadership, both internationally and domestically, in its protection of human rights.

"The Albanese Government must now ensure that Australia demonstrates climate leadership, both internationally and domestically, in its protection of human rights."

"Voting in support of this resolution is an important step, but it must be followed by concrete action to phase out fossil fuels and protect present and future generations from the climate crisis-failure to do so is a violation of our fundamental human rights."

Background

The UN climate accountability resolution seeks to turn the ICJ Advisory Opinion on states' obligations concerning the "urgent and existential threat" posed by climate change, into a roadmap for concrete action and accountability.

Vanuatu, which has repeatedly warned that it could disappear under rising sea levels, spearheaded the efforts to secure the resolution. The Pacific island nation and archipelago had previously also led the diplomatic drive for the ICJ's 2025 Advisory Opinion through active campaigning initiated by a group of young law students.

In a rare unanimous opinion, the ICJ made it clear that protecting the global climate system is a legal obligation - not a political choice. Failure to do so threatens human rights and the well-being of present and future generations. The ICJ also stated that countries must act together to remediate existing harm and prevent more climate havoc.

In a bid to 'operationalize' this ICJ Advisory Opinion, a core group of states contributed to the "zero draft" first version of the resolution adopted in today, with cross-regional representation from Vanuatu, Barbados, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Jamaica, Kenya, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Palau, Philippines, Singapore, and Sierra Leone. Read our explainer on the UN climate resolution here.

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