The six-year push towards a seminal climate change ruling at the International Court of Justice began not in some lofty legal chambers, but in a small university classroom in Vanuatu. “We were not doing enough to solve climate change, and so we had to turn to the world's highest court to provide that extra push to get us on track,” says Vishal Prasad, head of Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change. On Wednesday 23 July the ICJ will lay out what responsibilities countries have to prevent climate change and whether penalties should be imposed on nations that have failed to do so. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES