Author
Ms Leah Field
Organisation/Institution
Peking University Law School
Country
CHINA
Panel
International Law
Title
The Impact of the ICJ Advisory Opinion on State Obligations in Respect of Climate Change on China’s Belt and Road Initiative Corporate Sustainability Governance
Abstract
On July 23, 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark advisory opinion clarifying states’ obligations to prevent environmental harm and address climate change. Although non-binding, the opinion represents a historic milestone in the development of international environmental law and the doctrine of state responsibility for climate change. Notably, the Court held that states have an obligation to mitigate climate-related and environmental harms caused not only by their own conduct, but also by private actors under their jurisdiction or control. A state’s failure to fulfil this obligation may give rise to state liability for such harms. This ruling strengthens the legal basis for climate litigation seeking to hold states accountable for corporate environmental misconduct and may incentivize states’ adoption of more robust corporate sustainability frameworks. While China has previously issued voluntary guidelines promoting sustainability in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects, these instruments lacked binding enforcement mechanisms. In 2024, however, China introduced its first mandatory regulatory framework for BRI corporate sustainability practices, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Standards – Basic Standards (CSR Standards), which will become binding in 2026. While the CSR Standards aim to bring BRI projects into compliance with international environmental standards, it remains to be seen whether the they fulfill the heightened obligation set out by the ICJ’s new opinion. To fill this gap, this paper will evaluate the CSR Standards in the context of the ICJ advisory opinion, focusing on whether they actually fulfill China’s legal obligation to regulate private actors’ environmental misconduct and whether the ICJ opinion will incentivize China to continue strengthening its BRI corporate sustainability regulations.
Biography
Leah Field holds a JD from Vanderbilt University and is currently an LLM candidate at Peking University. She previously worked in the arbitration and litigation practice groups of Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer in New York City. As a research fellow at Peking University, her areas of interest include public international law, investor state dispute resolution, and business and human rights. She has previously published articles in the Willamette Journal of International Law and Dispute Resolution, Buffalo Human Rights Law Review, and the Tennessee Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice and presented at the Society of International Economic Law’s 12th Postgraduate and Early Professionals/Academics Conference.
