Everyone has a right to government that counters pollution
August 12, 2025•339 words
The International Court of Justice has found that the right to a clean and healthy environment and the right to climate protection are inherent in other human rights. Transcendent, irreducible human rights are the foundation of legitimate law and governance.
According to the Court, the obligation of governments to act to reduce climate-related risk and harm is rooted in specific treaties, but also in customary international law and in fundamental human rights. The treaties and other agreements are not the full body of law determining the obligation to act; they are, instead, an agreed refining of the means of implementation of this fundamental responsibility.
In other words, governments are obligated to act to reduce environmental damage from pollution, including climate damage.
This is common sense, of course. Modern governments are established to make justice, fairness, and rule of law possible, to provide for the protection of the innocent and the legal accountability of those who harm others.
Pollution is, unfortunately, entwined with the rise of modern societies. Early industrial methods centered on the production of energy through the burning of coal. Eventually, other fossil fuels, including petroleum and fossil gas, were added to the energy mix.
While industry has developed cleaner capabilities over time, the standard of treating pollution as a tradeoff for prosperity is still common throughout the world. Pollution is, in every case, a denial of fundamental rights. No one should be subjected to spillover harm of this kind, which is either invisible or preventable only at the point of origin.
Everyone has a right to government that counters pollution. When the most vulnerable are denied this right, we are all denied this right, and when the right to be protected from pollution is denied, all other rights are materially eroded.
The middle of the 21st century must be the time when we finally establish the common sense standard that affluent and influential industries achieve that status by producing value without polluting. Governments at all levels have a shared responsibility to steer us toward that better future.