Positions of States Within the Advisory Proceedings of the International Court of Justice on Obligations of States in Respect of Climate Change
Since 2022 several international judicial bodies have been exercising their advisory function to identify and clarify existing international obligations of States in the context of climate change. On 21 May 2024, the International Tribunal on the Law for the Sea delivered the advisory opinion in which, among other conclusions, it held that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions fell under the definition “pollution of the marine environment” under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (see an overview in ICLRC paper, in Russian). The requests for advisory opinions have been also submitted to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, International Court of Justice and African Court on Human and People’s Rights.
The review focuses on the advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice a case of unprecedented scale and significance, which has received widespread attention from the international community. The proceedings were initiated by the UN General Assembly resolution of 29 March 2023, based on proposal by Vanuatu and co-sponsored by 130 States. A total of 96 States and 12 international organisations appeared before the ICJ via written statements, commentaries, and oral hearings. For some States, this marked their first appearance before the Court.
In this paper particular attention is paid to the most debated aspects: the applicable sources of international obligations of States in the field of climate change (UN climate treaty regime, prevention principle, duty of due diligence, law of the sea, human rights law) and legal consequences in case of causing significant harm to the climate system and the environment.
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Areas of professional expertise: Education In 2013, Aleksei graduated from the IKBFU (Kaliningrad). In 2015, he obtained an LL.M. degree with a specialization in international law from the University of Göttingen (Germany). He also completed an exchange semester at the University of Kiel (Germany). In 2024, the degree of Doctor of Law (Dr. jur.) was awarded following the defence of the dissertation at the University of Göttingen. The dissertation was written in the field of international law and concerned the right to regulate in investment and trade law. In 2016, Aleksei received the “International Law in the 21st Century” Award from the ICLRC. The previous year, the Society of International Economic Law highly commended his paper on WTO law in an essay competition on international economic law. Professional Experience From 2016 to 2017, Aleksei worked as a research assistant at the Institute of International and European Law at the University of Göttingen. Later, Aleksei joined the WTO Expertise Center in Moscow, where he handled inter-State trade disputes from 2017 to 2019. He was a member of the litigation team that achieved the first win in a WTO dispute initiated by Russia. Aleksei participated in over ten inter-State disputes, including panel and Appellate Body proceedings, representing complainants, respondents and third parties. He also took part in WTO committee meetings and conducted practical seminars on trade law for representatives of government agencies and large businesses. Aleksei has developed and taught law courses at three universities in both Russian and English. In 2022, he joined the School of International Law at the Faculty of Law of the Higher School of Economics (Moscow), as an Associate Professor, where he teaches subjects related to public international law. In 2024, Aleksei coached the winning team in the moot court competition «Dispute Settlement in the Eurasian Economic Union.» He also received a certificate of appreciation from the School of International Law (HSE University). Before joining the ICLRC, Aleksei worked with the Center as an expert, and in 2020, he officially became part of the team, focusing on issues linked to public international law.
Author of the monograph: Petrenko, Aleksei. The Right to Regulate in International Economic Law: Towards a General Theory with Lessons from the GATS / A. Petrenko. - Göttingen : Universitätsverlag Göttingen, 2024. - 227 p.
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Areas of professional expertise:
• Theory of general international law;
• Customary international law;
• International environmental law and climate change;
• International investment law and arbitration.
In 2025 Anzhela graduated from the Faculty of Law of Lomonosov Moscow State University where she received bachelor’s degrees in law.
From August to December 2024, she had been undertaking an internship at the International and Comparative Law Research Center. Previously, Anzhela was an assistant of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russian Federation, where she worked on questions of representation of Russian Federation in organizations of international trade law.
From January 2025, she is a permanent employee of the “Climate and Environment” division of the Center.
Fluent in Russian and English, as well as French at an intermediate level.