Beyond the 2025 ICJ Advisory Opinion
International protection frameworks have not fully adapted to the reality of climate displacement. Current refugee law was not designed with climate impacts in mind, leaving many people displaced by environmental harm outside clear legal protection.
However, recent international developments, most notably the 2025 Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), have sparked new discussion. Can broader legal principles, such as non-refoulement (the rule that states should not return people to serious harm), offer protection in climate-related cases?
In this edition of the SDG Academy, the Amsterdam Sustainability Institute (ASI) and the Global Migration Hub bring together experts to examine the intersection of climate modeling and international law. We will discuss when adaptation reaches its limits, making displacement unavoidable, and whether the "Court has spoken" clearly enough to establish new customary international law.
What do these legal and ecological shifts mean for the future of international protection and global responsibility? Our panel of speakers will provide expert analysis and scientific background information.
- Kushagra Pandey (Institute of Environmental Sciences) will present model-based research on how flooding and sea-level rise influence migration decisions, highlighting the point at which adaptation reaches its limits and displacement becomes inevitable.
- Prof. Elspeth Guild (School of Law) will examine the international legal implications of the 2025 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), focusing on the principle of non-refoulement and the question of whether climate-related harm now poses a real risk to the right to life under the ICCPR.
- Prof. Hemme Battjes (Faculty of Law) will offer a critical response to these developments and situate the discussion within the historical and current context of European asylum law and international protection frameworks.
- The session will be moderated by Dr. Janna Wessels (Amsterdam Center for Migration and Refugee Law), who will guide the panel through the changing landscape of policy and international responsibility. These short presentations will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.
This SDG Academy will be taking place in-person. For those based in and around Amsterdam, join us at the Green Office VU from 16:00 onwards on May 27th.