World Council of Churches’s Claim on Climate Disinformation

On December 14, 2023, the World Council of Churches (WCC), a Christian organization for the promotion of ecumenism, submitted a letter addressed to the Assembly of State Parties to the International Criminal Court titled “Climate Change Disinformation: The Need for Legal Development”, arguing for an amendment of Article 7 of the Rome Statute. Article 7 of the Rome Statute describes the acts that could be considered as ‘crimes against humanity’, which would fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. According to this provision, ‘crime against humanity’ means any of the listed acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack. Under the Rome Statute, only the following acts could be categorized as crimes against humanity: murder; extermination; enslavement; deportation or forcible transfer of population; imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty; torture; rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity; prosecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law; enforced disappearance of persons; the crime of apartheid, and; other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health. In its letter, the WCC wishes to highlight the impunity of fossil fuel companies spreading climate change disinformation. The organization recalls that human activities are mainly responsible for the large-scale emissions of GHG which major oil companies have knowledge of. In spite of this, many oil companies continue to promote public doubt on the veracity of climate change and its causes. The letter further notes that legal action at the national level to attempt to hold these companies responsible inevitably stumbled on the limits of national jurisdictions to tackle challenges with a global impact. These limits are equally present in international criminal law, prompting the WCC to propose a new precedent and/ or amendment of the Rome Statute. The WCC noted that the Rome Statute does not provide protection against the effects of the burning of fossil fuel or climate disinformation campaigns, prompting the organization to propose to include these acts in the definition of ‘crimes against humanity’.