Pakistan, July 24 -- As Pakistan braves yet another season of fatal floods, the world's highest court has issued a verdict that lands with sobering clarity: climate change is an "urgent and existential threat."

This was not a headline from an NGO or a political soundbite. It was the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's principal judicial organ, stating that states have binding legal obligations to prevent climate harm and that failure to act may constitute a breach of international law.

To be honest, Pakistan doesn't need a court to explain what a climate emergency looks like. In recent weeks, floods have killed over 120 people across Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Gilgit-Baltistan, extreme heat has triggered glacial lake o...