The Significance of the Recent Advisory Opinions on Climate Change

The climate emergency has prompted three recent Advisory Opinions that contribute to clarify the obligations of States with regard to preventing and minimizing the deleterious consequences of climate change. The International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice have contributed to clarify the relationship between the general obligation to prevent significant harm to the environment, on the one side, and the climate treaty framework, the law of the sea and human rights law, on the other. These advisory opinions have the potential to significantly impact the response of the international community to the climate change existential threat. Nevertheless, along with legal rules and principles, effective action requires domestic political will to significantly reduce GHG emissions.

About the Speaker

Ambassador Ximena Fuentes (DPhil (Oxon), Lawyer (University of Chile) was appointed as the Chilean ambassador to the United Kingdom in 2024.Then: Previously, she served as Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Chile (2022-2023), National Director of the Directorate of International Boundaries and Border Zones of the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2015-2022). She was Deputy Judge of the Second Environmental Tribunal of the Republic of Chile (2012-2014).

She was Agent of the Republic of Chile before the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the Status and Use of the Waters of the Silala (Chile v. Bolivia, 2016-2022). She acted as adviser to the Government of Chile in the case regarding An obligation to negotiate access to the Pacific Ocean (ICJ, Bolivia v. Chile, 2013-2018) and in the Maritime Dispute (ICJ, Peru v. Chile 2008-2014). Representative of Chile in the Advisory Opinion Proceedings before ITLOS and the ICJ (2024-2025) on climate Change and international Law. She has participated as counsel in ICSID investor-State arbitrations: Vieira v. Chile; Quiborax v. Bolivia and Flughafen Zürich v. Venezuela.

Ambassador Fuentes is Associate Professor of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile and former President of the Chilean Society of International Law. In January 2024, she taught at the International Academy of International Law, Winter Programme. Member of the Chilean Branch of the International Law Association.

Image Credit: Grant Ritchie