Small Island States

A trust fund set up to support Tuvalu's economic development has ended up in fossil fuel investments despite the island nation's vocal advocacy for urgent climate action, an Agence France-Presse investigation reveals.

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution that underscores countries’ obligation to fight climate change, following on a landmark advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last July.

The United Nations General Assembly may be just hours away from a vote on a draft resolution that underscores countries’ obligation to fight climate change, following on a landmark advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last July.

Christiana Figueres, the Costa Rican diplomat and former United Nations climate change secretary who helped bring the 2015 Paris agreement to life, has been name co-chair of a new commission on sea level rise, health, and justice.

A global music superstar earned rave reviews, Puerto Rico’s famously failure-prone power grids made a surprise appearance, and Donald Trump chimed in with an ill-tempered rebuke after Bad Bunny took centre stage at the U.S. National Football League’s Super Bowl halftime show last Sunday.

The Australia–Tuvalu Falepili Union treaty commits Australia to accept 280 Tuvalu citizens each year under a special visa. It also ensures Tuvalu’s continued statehood.

Trump reshaped the industry this year, even as it faced opposition from the United Nations, scientists, and Indigenous peoples, Grist reports.

Solar panels and battery storage systems are powering households across Jamaica, supporting resilience and reducing local dependence on costly imported fossil fuels after Hurricane Melissa downed power poles and utility lines.

Hurricane Melissa left at least dozens dead and caused widespread destruction across Cuba, Haiti, and Jamaica, where roofless homes, toppled utility poles and water-logged furniture dominated the landscape Wednesday.

With China leading the way by announcing its first emission cuts, world leaders said Wednesday they are getting more serious about fighting climate change and the deadly extreme weather that comes with it.

A new wave of legal action may already be taking shape after last week’s landmark advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on countries’ duty to tackle climate change. And one analyst says the decision will put Prime Minister Mark Carney in a tough spot.

The United Nations’ top court in a landmark advisory opinion Wednesday said countries could be in violation of international law if they fail to take measures to protect the planet from climate change, and nations harmed by its effects could be entitled to reparations.

Both existing international law and the ongoing imperative to counter injustice and preserve human dignity demand full and enduring statehood for countries that stand to lose much or all of their land territory beneath rising seas, says a new report from the United Nations-affiliated International Law Commission (ILC).

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) —In a landmark advisory opinion Thursday, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights linked governments’ human rights obligations to their responsibility to address the threat of climate change—a move expected to shape policy and litigation across Latin America and the Caribbean.

After the United States loudly left ahead of the vote, the deal passed with 63 of 103 nations voting in favour. But 16 countries—predominantly petrostates—opposed it, while 25 abstained, including several small island states that said the deal doesn’t go far enough.