A ZOOM WEBINAR EVENT

Advisory Opinions on Climate Change – A Legal Bedrock of State Responsibility: The IACtHR Opinion on the Climate Emergency and Human Rights

30 July 2025, 4pm - 5.15pm, Singapore Time via Zoom

Start: 4.00pm, SGT / 10.00am, CEST
End: 5.15pm, SGT / 11.15am, CEST

On 3 July 2025, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) issued the long-awaited Advisory Opinion on the climate emergency and human rights requested by Chile and Colombia. The historic opinion detailed how the existing legal obligations of States under the American Convention on Human Rights apply in the urgent context of the climate emergency and intersect with human rights.

The rich tableaux of issues addressed by the IACtHR Advisory Opinion ranged from the nature of the right to a healthy climate, the legal personality of nature, the obligation not to create irreversible damage to the climate and global environment as a jus cogens norm, a climate-focused regime of reparations, the development of a pro natura principle of interpretation of international obligations, the investment law–climate–human rights nexus, and associated procedural rights and obligations among others. What are the implications of the IACtHR’s Advisory Opinion for states, corporates, peoples and communities, and civil society?

Join our expert panellists as they share their insights on the key aspects of the opinion both in terms of substance and process, as well as its broader implications and significance.

This webinar is the first in a series of three webinars convened by the Centre for International Law, National University of Singapore, exploring climate-related advisory opinions by the IACtHR and the International Court of Justice, the latter of which issued its advisory opinion on 23 July 2025.