The Special Rapporteur on the right to development, Surya Deva, has released a new report on Climate justice: loss and damage (UN Doc. A/79/168), addressing linking the topics of development and climate justice in the context of the recently operationalised Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage - established during COP28 to support developing countries facing climate-related harm. The report develops a climate justice framework comprising four pillars (mitigation, adaptation, remediation and transformation) and defines obligations for developed countries, multilateral development banks and multinational companies on how to respond to climate change within this framework.
Human Level’s Take: This report signals that businesses, alongside States, development banks, and international institutions, may need to broaden their approach to climate action. By placing climate justice as the umbrella for climate mitigation, adaptation, reparations and business transformation, the UN Special Rapporteur urges companies to go beyond emission reductions and compliance. On one hand, the report emphasises the need for environmental and human rights due diligence to assess how their operations impact vulnerable communities. In addition - for companies with significant historical emissions - the report suggests contributing to loss and damage funds or collaborating on reparations for climate-affected regions. It also calls for a deeper business transformation by adopting circular economies, reshaping supply chains, and pursuing long-term sustainable innovation. Key questions for integrating this climate justice framework include: Is your company addressing climate and environmental impacts in its entire value chain, beyond its GHG footprint? Are your sustainability and transition strategies informed by environmental and climate justice principles? Are you factoring in how your environmental initiatives affect marginalised or vulnerable communities? Are your company’s sustainability efforts focused only on mitigation, or are you exploring deeper systemic changes in your business model that align with the transformation pillar?
Key points from the report:
- The urgency of climate justice for development. Climate change is an existential threat, raising serious human rights concerns, including to the right to development. Vulnerable communities and least developed countries, who are least responsible for causing climate change, often face the greatest challenges in managing its impacts. The report stresses that this disproportionate burden exacerbates inequalities and may worsen the debt crisis for developing nations. In this context, climate justice can provide a needed framework to address the global impacts of climate change on human rights and development with equity, responsibility, and fairness. The UN Special Rapporteur defines climate justice as “not harming one’s neighbours through global warming and remedying the harm caused directly or indirectly in proportion to one’s contributions."
- A four-pillar framework for justice framework.The Special Rapporteur builds and proposes a climate justice framework, based on international climate and human rights law, with four interconnected pillars that reflect the practical implications of climate justice:
- Mitigation: Actions to reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including emission reduction and carbon removal efforts.
- Adaptation: Making structural changes to reduce climate change-related damages—examples include planting trees, switching to drought-resistant crops, or developing climate-resilient infrastructure.
- Remediation: Ensuring reparations for peoples harmed by climate change in line with international human rights law. This is particularly relevant for those States and businesses that contributed significantly to global emissions but have failed to take preventive action and may be approached through innovative or collective remedial mechanisms that respond to the cumulative nature of these impacts.
- Transformation: A call for fundamental shifts in how economies and businesses operate. It urges moving beyond ‘do no harm’ approaches to adopting alternative business models and transforming the global financial architecture to ensure sustainable futures.
The UN Special Rapporteur also proposes that these pillars be interpreted and guided by 12 overarching human rights principles, including intergenerational equity, non-discrimination, just transitions, and the polluter pays principle.
- New expectations for developed countries, companies and financial institutions. The report sets clear expectations for developed countries, multinational banks, and multinational companies to take responsibility for climate justice. Developed countries, in particular, are called on to take action in proportion to their historical emissions and in line with their obligations under international human rights law and international climate law. Key actions include: contributing to the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage - established during COP28 to support developing countries facing climate-related harm - and providing technical assistance to developing nations, as outlined in the Paris Agreement. Companies and financial institutions are also encouraged to contribute to the Fund to the measure of their contributions to climate change, as well as to align financial flows with the goals of the Paris Agreement, prioritise support for climate-resilient projects, and conduct due diligence on their environmental impacts and their impacts on human rights and development. Businesses are also encouraged to refrain from irresponsible lobbying and develop, adopt and share green technologies.
