Last week’s advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is a gamechanger in the long-running global struggle to limit greenhouse-gas emissions. The court’s 15 judges unanimously ruled that governments must act “with the highest ambition”,

The advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice is a legal milestone. Conceived by law students from small islands, it gathered wider support and makes a very strong legal case for climate accountability.

The ruling was the result of years of efforts by activists and small island nations and initiated by Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, a group of young Pacific Islanders facing the existential threat of rising sea levels,