The United Nations’ top court will start unprecedented hearings on Monday aimed at setting legal guidelines for how countries should protect the planet against climate change and help vulnerable nations combat its devastating impact.

Representatives from Vanuatu and other low-lying at-risk islands in the Pacific Ocean will open marathon proceedings at the International Court of Justice at 10 a.m. before a 15-judge panel.

Over the course of the next two weeks, more than 100 countries and organizations will make submissions on the topic, the highest number ever before the Hague-based court.

Activists hope that the opinion from the ICJ’s judges will have far-reaching legal consequences in the fight against climate change.

Others fear the UN-backed request for a non-binding advisory opinion will have limited impact — and it could take the UN’s highest court months, or even years, to deliver.

The hearings at the scenic Peace Palace come days after a bitterly negotiated climate deal at the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan.

Wealthy polluting countries ultimately agreed to find at least $300 billion a year by 2035 to help poorer nations transition to cleaner energy sources and prepare for increasing climate impacts such as extreme weather.

Developing countries condemned the pledge as too little, too late, and the summit’s final deal failed to include a global pledge to move away from burning planet-heating fossil fuels.

“We are on the frontline of climate change impact,” said Ralph Regenvanu, special envoy for Vanuatu, which has been driving the ICJ initiative along with neighboring island states.

with afp