The International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory Opinion underscores the case for the UK to introduce mandatory business, human rights and environmental due diligence legislation. This article briefly examines states’ responsibilities following the ruling and the human rights abuses and environmental harm linked to increased fossil fuel extraction by multinational giant Glencore at its Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia. In response, Methodist churches in Colombia, the UK and Ireland, supported by the World Council of Churches, have filed an OECD complaint against HSBC for helping to finance Glencore despite alleged breaches of the bank’s own climate-focused policies.

In September 2021, the Pacific Island State of Vanuatu went to the International Court of Justice to obtain an Advisory Opinion from the Court on climate change. This action was inspired by the youth group “Pacific Island Students Fighting Climate Change”, which highlighted that it was essential to act now to address climate change, particularly in small island States. International Court of Justice in giving its Advisory Opinion (ICJAO), highlighted that States’ have a legal obligation to protect the climate system, including by addressing fossil fuel production. This includes the obligation under the Paris Agreement on climate change to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Even though advisory opinions are not binding, they carry significant legal and moral authority and help clarify and develop international law by defining States’ legal obligations. On 20 May 2026, as a result of the ICJAO legal opinion, the UN General Assembly in a landmark decision adopted a resolution affirming states’ duty to address climate harm, endorsing the international law, climate justice and science behind this decision.

The Court further ruled that where States breach these obligations, they incur legal responsibility and may be required, depending on the circumstances, to cease the wrongful conduct, provide guarantees of non-repetition, and make full reparation. The UK is also party to key international environmental agreements, including the Biodiversity Convention, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement, which require States to protect the environment for people worldwide and for future generations. As signatory to these Treaties and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the UK has accepted that a “clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a precondition for the enjoyment of many human rights”.

The Wayuu Indigenous Peoples and the Afro-Colombian communities who live around multinational Glencore’s notorious open pit coal mine, have for decades been struggling to get their voices heard and stating that they have a right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. According to United Nations (UN) experts, communities around the Cerrejón Coal mine in La Guajira, have experienced violent displacement, water scarcity, and serious health impacts linked to air and water pollution. Hundreds of thousands of people have suffered respiratory illnesses, and children have borne a disproportionate share of these harms. For decades, the harmful impacts of Cerrejón’s operations have been raised repeatedly, through legal cases by civil society organisations on the ground, affected communities, and by international organisations and bodies including the UN.

On 19 January 2021, ABColombia, Colombian Organisations, Christian Aid and the local indigenous and afro-Colombian communities, lodged an OECD complaint against Glencore, Anglo American and BHP, all three companies joint owners, at the time, of the Cerrejón. The complaint outlines not only the litany of human rights abuses and environmental harms, but also, Cerrejon’s failure to implement the orders issued by the Colombian Courts against the mine.

Following pressure from climate-conscious investors, HSBC promised in December 2021 to stop funding companies that were increasing coal production “as soon as possible”. The Investigative Bureau of Journalists (TIBJ) however revealed in 2021, that HSBC had sought to “water down action on climate change in the banking sector,” in 2022, that HSBC was “counting deals for mines, pipelines and oil rigs towards its $1 trillion “sustainable” finance target”, and in May 2023, despite Glencore ramping up its coal production in the previous two years, HSBC engaged in raising $1bn for Glencore’s operations. By mid-2025, HSBC had “abandoned certain emissions targets, cut the chief sustainability officer role from its executive board, and introduced exceptions to its coal policy”.

The Methodist Churches in Great Britain, Colombia and Ireland, together with the Ecumenical Centre for Communication in Latin America (CEPALC) and supported by the World Council of Churches, submitted an OECD complaint over HSBC’s alleged failure to apply its own climate-focused policies. The complaint raises concerns about HSBC’s ongoing financial relationship with Glencore, the global mining company that owns the Cerrejón coal mine in La Guajira, Colombia. Cerrejón is the largest open-pit coal mine in Latin America and operates on land inhabited by Wayuu Indigenous Peoples and Afro-Colombian communities. According to the Colombian Constitutional Court, the mine has violated Indigenous Peoples’ fundamental rights and caused environmental harms.

Coal remains the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel: it is the largest single contributor to global temperature rise and a major source of harmful air, land and water pollution. These impacts are starkly visible at Glencore’s vast Cerrejón coal mine (approximately 69,000 hectares) which is emblematic of the environmental damage and human rights risks associated with large-scale coal extraction.

States have do not just have a political choice to tackle the climate crisis under the ICJ ruling but, under international law, a legal duty.

These obligations should include ensuring that multinational corporations headquartered and/or registered in the UK are held to account for environmental and human rights harms linked to their activities abroad. For this reason, it is time that the UK introduces a Business, Environment and Human Rights Due Diligence Law to ensure corporate accountability, safeguard the enjoyment of human rights, and protect nature and the environment in the face of the climate crisis.

It is hoped that the UK National Contact Point for OECD complaints which has now received two complaints against Glencore in relation to the Cerrejon coal mine will take the appropriate action and that its final decisions will compensation communities, and that HSBC will rapidly improve and comply with its own climate focussed policies

Take Action:

• Sign and ask your church leaders to sign this letter in support of protecting the environment, addressing the climate crisis and the OECD complaint against HSBC
• ABColombia is part of a coalition of organisations working to achieve new law on Business, Human Rights and the Environment, be part of this initiative and write to your MP asking them to support a new law. A standard letter can be found here on Friends of the Earth website another member of the coalition that we are working with. Send the letter to your MP today please!