Next Week on…Climate Court

In December of this year, the United Nations will hold a climate change conference in Paris. The intention is to achieve consensus on how to act on global warming by getting member nations to agree on carbon emissions commitments, among other measures. One such measure that has flew under the radar is the “International Tribunal of Climate Justice.”

The intention of the tribunal is to hold member nations accountable to their commitments. The actual text of the agreement being drafted in Europe gives the tribunal power to enforce the agreements on carbon emissions that nations have agreed to.

But it does not stop there.

The language also gives developing nations the power to take developed nations like the United States to court for not fulfilling their climate change penance. In fact, over 130 developing nations have already declared they will not sign any climate agreement without mechanisms that begin to redistribute wealth from nations like the United States to poorer countries.

This was tried once before, in 2011, but was abandoned once enough people learned about the plan’s implications. Now the UN is trying once more.

What are those potential implications? Any nation could bring the United States to court for supposed climate injustices.

The United Nations and the media are blaming the current Middle East refugee crisis on global warming. What happened to ISIS, Assad, Al Qaeda, and the Israel-Palestinian crisis causing refugees? Apparently, all those crises mean nothing, and people are fleeing their homelands because it is getting too hot. Imagine if Syria or Turkey or any other European nation accepting refugees could then sue the United States for not acting enough on climate and thus forcing refugees on them?

The possibility for abuse and overreach is enormous. Drought in your country? Sue the United States. Earthquake? Sue. Rebels? People are fighting because there is obviously not enough food or water, and the United States is to blame.

This hardly seems like it would lead to the “consensus” the United Nations is going for.