CCJ president proposes international climate injuries compensation fund

BRASILIA, Brazil, CMC – President of the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Justice Winston Anderson has proposed the establishment of an international climate injuries compensation (ICIC) fund to provide compensation for damage and harm resulting from extraordinary weather events.

Anderson made the proposal while attending the Inter-American Seminar on Climate Emergency and Human Rights: Different Perspectives, now taking place here.

The seminar was hosted by the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) and the Supreme Court of Brazil at the start of the 187th Ordinary Session of the Inter-American Court.

The seminar was convened to discuss the implications of the Inter-American Court’s Advisory Opinion No.32 of 2025 on Climate Emergency and Human Rights.

A CCJ statement said that while accepting that the Advisory Opinion established concrete obligations for governments to regulate companies and businesses that contribute to the climate crisis, Anderson was of the view that the establishment of this normative framework was not enough.

“He emphasised that more was required at a practical level to ensure that small vulnerable countries in the Caribbean and in other regions of the world receive urgent assistance to recover from destruction caused by extraordinary weather events, such as that caused by Hurricane Melissa in October 2025” the CCJ statement said, noting also that Anderson had also proposed that the ICIC be funded by corporate actors.

Anderson acknowledged the existence of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD) established by the Conference of Parties (COP) to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which was again discussed at COP30 held in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025.

However, he expressed disappointment with the lack of urgency in securing capitalisation of the FRLD and that while Jamaica was actively engaging the FRLD, the maximum it could receive seemed to be an estimated US$20 million, whereas the country had suffered damage estimated at US$9.9 million.

The CCJ statement said that the proposed alternative of the ICIC fund model outlines that multinational corporations and businesses that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions above a certain threshold would be required to make mandatory contributions to the fund by the state in which they operate.

“The fund would have legal personality and could be sued in the country where the extraordinary weather event caused significant harm or damage,” the statement said, adding that Anderson suggested that the fund be established by a global convention, modelled on the International Maritime Organisation’s International Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Funds, which provide compensation for oil pollution damage at sea, and is backed by shipowners of oil vessels.

“Like the IOPC Funds, the ICIC fund would be entirely consistent with the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle and with the customary law responsibility of States to ensure that economic activities in their countries do not cause environmental harm or damage in other countries.”

Anderson had first advocated the establishment of the ICIC Fund during his address “Transnational Actions in Reshaping Accountability for Climate Justice: A Caribbean Perspective” at the CANARI Partners Forum held in Barbados in January this year.

Meanwhile, Anderson, who is visiting Brazil at the invitation of Justice Rodrigo Mudrovitsch, President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the CCJ – whose original jurisdiction encompasses 12 member states and approximately seven million people – and the IACtHR, which has jurisdiction over 20 states and nearly 600 million people.

“This MOU was first discussed at the meeting between the two Presidents at the IACtHR in Costa Rica in January 2026. The MOU aims to strengthen cooperation between the two judicial institutions by promoting greater awareness of their respective mandates, procedures, and jurisprudence.

“It also establishes a framework for knowledge-sharing, collaboration, exchanges, and capacity-building initiatives designed to enhance the delivery of justice for the populations served by both courts,” the CCJ statement noted.

The CCJ said it is looking forward to deepening its engagement with regional and international judicial partners as part of its continued commitment to the rule of law and the protection of fundamental rights across the Caribbean.

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