Building a Corpus Iuris Climatis : Making Sense of the ICJ and the IACtHR Advisory Opinions on Climate Emergency

In 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) delivered landmark advisory opinions that redefined the intersection between environmental protection, human rights, and climate governance. Although grounded in distinct mandates and legal traditions, both opinions engage with the same foundational principles of due diligence, prevention, cooperation, and intergenerational equity. Their reasoning also exposes deeper questions about the interaction between universal and regional jurisdictions, the role of scientific expertise in judicial interpretation, and the limits of legal imagination in confronting the global climate crisis. By tracing the convergences and tensions between these two judicial voices, the article explores whether international law is entering a new phase in its response to the juridification of the climate emergency.