Climate Change and the Security Council - CISDL

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2.2 Security Council Authority to Address Climate Change
Given these implications, authority exists to address climate change through Security Council
enforcement mechanisms. Within the UN, the Security Council is conferred “primary
responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.” 14 To fulfill this role,
Member states endowed it with significant enforcement authority through the UN Charter, as
interpreted and applied since the Organization’s establishment in 1945. 15 Although the Security
Council cannot act outside of the powers vested in it, implicitly or explicitly, by UN Members,
this treaty vests it with significant authority to realize its ‘primary responsibility,’ provided that
its mandatory decision-making threshold is achieved. 16 Particularly since the end of the Cold
War, the Security Council has begun to address emerging non-traditional security challenges
within the enforcement framework delineated in Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Invocation of
Security Council authority to address the threat posed by climate change would be consistent
with this evolving institutional practice.
In addition to assisting states with the resolution of disputes 17 , the Security Council “may
investigate any dispute, or any situation which might lead to international friction or give rise to
a dispute, in order to determine whether the continuance of the dispute or situation is likely to
endanger the maintenance of international peace and security”, either in its own right or
following a referral from a UN Member state. 18 Subsequent characterization of the situation as a
‘threat to international peace and security’ 19 permits the Security Council to invoke the binding
14
UN Charter, Article 24(1).
15
For a detailed analysis of the UN Charter and its interpretation and application since 1945, see Bruno Simma et
al., ed., The Charter of the United Nations: A Commentary, 2 nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
16
Article 27(3) provides that substantive Security Council decisions on non-procedural matters require “an
affirmative vote of nine members including the concurring votes of the permanent members”. This effectively
grants each permanent member a veto over Security Council decision making. However, it is now accepted as a
result of UN practice that ‘concurring vote’ also includes abstention, with the result that substantive Security
Council decisions may be taken with the affirmative vote of any nine members, so long as no P5 member actually
casts a negative vote. See, e.g., Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in
Namibia (South West Africa) Notwithstanding Security Council Resolution 276 (1970), Advisory Opinion, 21 June
1971, [1971] I.C.J. Rep. 16 [Namibia], at 16, 22. See also Simma, ibid at 493. The permanent members of the
Security Council are: China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
17
Chapter VI of the UN Charter outlines numerous non-binding mechanisms available to the Security Council to
assist Members in the pacific resolution of disputes likely to threaten international peace and security, including
“recommend[ing] appropriate procedures or methods of adjustment”. Article 36(1). See also Articles 33(2), 37(2),
and 38. Although the Security Council has frequently exercised its authority under Chapter VI to assist in the
maintenance of international peace and security, Members are not required to follow any resulting Security Council
recommendations. Instead, implementation of Chapter VI measures rests on Member consent to the specific
proposed measure.
18
19
Articles 34, 35(1).
Article 39 provides: