A resolution passed by the United Nations’ General Assembly says nations who don’t lower their greenhouse emissions owe reparations to those affected by climate change.
The United States, Iran, Israel, Liberia, Russia, Belarus, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen voted against the resolution. 141 nations voted in favor of the resolution and 28 abstained, the UN News reported Wednesday.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called it “a powerful affirmation of international law, climate justice, science & the responsibility of states to protect people from the escalating climate crisis” in a May 20 post on X.
“Those least responsible for climate change are paying the highest price,” Guterres wrote. An “injustice” that he said “must end.”
The U.N. and International Court of Justice (ICJ) did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
Vanuatu spearheaded the resolution, “a Pacific island nation on the frontline of the climate crisis,” according to UN News.
The resolution backs the ICJ’s July 2025 advisory opinion that nations are obligated to lower greenhouse emissions within the Paris Agreement’s context, UN News reported.
The Paris Agreement is a 2015 treaty requiring nations to limit global greenhouse emissions to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the pact for the second time on his first day in office, the DCNF previously reported.
“Throughout the negotiation of this resolution, the United States has been consistent in conveying our opposition to this initiative. The United States did not support seeking an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on climate change and has many concerns about the Court’s opinion,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Tammy Bruce said in a statement Wednesday.
“We understand the concerns that Vanuatu and other countries have about specific environmental threats and the importance they attach to the Court’s opinion, and we acknowledge that some changes were made to moderate the text of the resolution in certain respects in response to Member States’ concerns during negotiations. However, the United States continues to have serious legal and policy concerns about this resolution,” she continued.
She also alleged the resolution “singles out certain groups for preferential treatment” and “makes alarmist political statements,” and urged the Secretariat “to avoid wading into the complex legal issues addressed by the Court and avoid duplicating or complicating work that is part of the entirely separate processes under the UNFCCC [United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change].”
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