In this episode of L’entretien IDN, an interview series from Initiatives pour le Désarmement Nucléaire our ED Kate Mackintosh, Professor from Practice a will answer the question: "Can the ICJ's new climate ruling save the planet?"

On 23 July 2025, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a landmark advisory opinion clarifying what states are legally obliged to do about climate change and what happens if they don’t. In this lecture and conversation, Professor Kate McIntosh (UCLA Law Promise Institute, Europe) explains what the ruling says, why it’s historic, and how it can be used, from courtrooms to climate negotiations.

In a recent interview with Al Jazeera Newshour, Kate Mackintosh, executive director of UCLA Law Promise Institute Europe, discussed the devastating environmental impact of armed conflict, with a focus on Israel’s attacks against Gaza’s once-thriving agricultural industry. She underscored how the destruction of Gaza's agricultural sector reflects a broader pattern of environmental damage as a strategic target in warfare.  

"The scale of destruction has been extreme in such a short time frame," Mackintosh noted. Such environmental devastation not only threatens the lives and livelihoods of local communities, causing harm to health and property, it is also disrupting local economies and has long-term implications for global ecosystems and biodiversity.