UNCLOS

On 21 May 2024, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) issued a unanimous advisory opinion addressing states’ obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) concerning climate change impacts in the oceans, including climate-induced ocean warming, sea level rise, and ocean acidification. The central issue brought before ITLOS was whether States Parties to UNCLOS, among them Australia and New Zealand, have specific legal obligations to prevent, reduce, and control marine environmental pollution resulting from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. In clarifying that anthropogenic greenhouse emissions qualify as ‘pollution of the marine environment’...