The latest report of the IPCC, which lays out in stark terms, the bleak future facing the planet if urgent, remedial action to control climate change is not taken immediately, makes the need for an International Court for the Environment more vital than ever.

We are, therefore, redoubling our efforts at the COP 24 in Katowice to bring awareness of the role that international law, with its accompanying institutions, can play in ensuring that promises made are kept and that governments and corporations that do not keep their promises can be challenged in court.

While being well aware of both the challenges and the opposition this campaign will face, we are determined to keep it firmly on the international agenda and to gather support from all those who see the urgency of our case. Please join us.

The ICE Coalition organize and participate in public lectures, collaborate on projects with different groups, and meet with stakeholders representing many different interests in the international legal order. 

We encourage you to read the articles and working papers we've produced over the years to get a sense of how we envisage an international court for the environment contributing to a more effective international environmental rule of law. 

We make a point of proposing several different templates for an ICE, but they are built on two guiding principles:

(1) a specialized judiciary is more likely to understand and apply scientific evidence effectively, as it relates to the substance of transboundary environmental disputes, than a general international court or tribunal; and

(2) states, but also non-state actors, should be given standing to bring cases against states for alleged non-compliance with international legal obligations. 

In addition to this selection of some of our articles and commentaries, we've also produced a Draft Protocol for the legal structure of an ICE to generate debate and discussion. 

In 2010 and 2011, we worked with Penn Design at the University of Pennsylvania as their students produced their versions of how an ICE could look. We think their designs are amazing and we're confident you'll feel the same.