Reacting to the International Court of Justice’s first-ever ruling on climate change, co-leader of the Green Party, Carla Denyer MP, said:

“In a landmark ruling today the ICJ has made clear that failure to take decisive action to protect the climate, through continued fossil fuel production and consumption and granting fossil fuel exploration licences, can be considered as acting ‘wrongfully’. This means the UK has a legal duty to speed up the transition towards a cleaner, greener economy and block any new licences for the extraction of fossil fuels. 

“The ruling also made clear that human rights must be at the heart of climate action because climate breakdown affects our rights to health, homes, and livelihoods.

“The court has recognised that rich countries like the UK, responsible for ongoing and historic pollution, have a special responsibility to act, and to offer compensation to countries and communities already suffering from floods, droughts, and rising sea levels.

“Today’s ruling should be the moment we draw a line. Governments that fail to act and polluters that refuse to clean up their act must no longer be allowed to harm communities either at home or across the globe with impunity.”