The UN Special Rapporteur (UNSR) on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change released an advance unedited version of A/HRC/56/46: Scene-Setting Report (July 2024). This is the first report of the newly appointed UN Special Rapporteur, Elisa Morgera, to the UN Human Rights Council. The report aims to map the current landscape, challenges and opportunities to deliver on the Special Rapporteur’s three-year mandate:
Human Level’s Take: The new UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the context of climate change put out her first report laying out the landscape for protection of people and planet as we continue tackling the global climate crisis. Many of the critical themes and recommendations she emphasises in the report concern policies, legislation and regulation related to private sector activities that contribute to or seek to mitigate climate change impacts—in other words, the role of the State in protecting human rights in the context of climate change. But companies and investors, listen up: the Special Rapporteur envisions a key role for the private sector as both a contributor to climate change and a driver of climate solutions. The private sector should be implementing policies and practices to respect human rights in climate strategy, conducting strong HRDD, and centering consultation and FPIC throughout. What companies should especially take note of is the report’s focus on the importance of considering intersectionality when it comes to climate mitigation, adaptation, just transition and finance. That is, making sure that the most vulnerable people and groups are both considered and consulted. This is a strong echo of the UNGPs and the legislation coming out of Europe and elsewhere on mandatory due diligence. Likewise, the report puts emphasis on the role of remedy for human rights harms, which we can expect to see more of if we go by recent trends tracking a rise in just transition and climate litigation.
Key points from the report:
- Human rights in climate mitigation and adaptation: The report outlines the positions of UN treaty bodies and thematic experts on climate change expectations with regard to human rights. The UNSR looks at opinions and reports concerning mitigation in five areas: fossil fuels, coal, energy efficiency, nature conservation and food systems. For fossil fuels and coal, States and companies should be phasing out their extraction, production and use for energy production. This includes stopping exploration and feasibility studies for new projects and coal-fired power plants. States should also incentivise and invest in increasing the affordability and energy efficiency of housing and avoid evicting and displacing communities when constructing climate mitigation infrastructure. States and the private sector should prioritise ecosystem-based approaches to climate change mitigation, while ensuring that human rights are respected (especially the land and resource rights of Indigenous Peoples and other land-dependent communities). Food systems should be transformed to reduce GHG emissions, avoid hazardous chemicals and sequester carbon in soil. At the same time, emissions from food systems and waste should be equitably reduced. The UNSR’s report also cautions against relying on “unproven mitigation technologies” like geoengineering (e.g., carbon removal and solar radiation modification), recognising that human rights can be harmed both in the development and deployment of such technologies—and in the potential for them to delay emissions reduction. To equitably adapt to climate change, States and the private sector should focus on actions that ensure human rights are respected. This could include building climate- and disaster-resilient infrastructure and housing (especially for vulnerable populations); providing social protection to reduce vulnerability to climate-related disasters and slow-onset events; scaling up the resilience of food systems and livelihoods in response to climate variability and extremes; and enhancing ecosystem services like fresh water, clean air, fertile soil, pest control and pollination.
- Just transition and climate finance priorities: The UNSR summarises gaps identified by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, including regulatory gaps; lack of meaningful participation of affected communities; lack of access to information; lack of community-based or participatory impact assessments; lack of benefit-sharing agreements between businesses and communities; and lack of access to effective remedies for victims. States should focus on ensuring policy coherence to promote a just transition for workers and for communities and reforming transnational corporate governance to prioritise human rights and climate change over profit. They should also look to dismantle blockers to a just transition, like clauses in bilateral and multilateral investment agreements and investor-state dispute settlement agreements that can privilege the interests of companies over the State interest in addressing climate change and protecting human rights. States should also regulate participation and consultation of affected communities in transition-related projects, while strengthening protections for trade unions and collective bargaining mechanisms that safeguard worker rights during the energy transition. Climate finance should echo these priorities. The UNSR also highlights three main human rights issues for States and the private sector to be aware of in climate finance: ensuring sufficient finance for rights-respecting climate change strategies; prioritising and enabling direct access of vulnerable people to climate finance; and ensuring that funded projects do not negatively impact people.
- Integrating intersectionality into climate response: The topic of intersectionality cuts through the UNSR’s report. Intersectionality (the ways in which multiple forms of discrimination overlap to exacerbate vulnerability) is a lens for States and the private sector to ensure that the people most vulnerable to climate change and human rights impacts are not left out in a just transition. For example, considering intersectionality in climate mitigation can entail adopting measures that acknowledge and redress entrenched injustice, systemic racism and discrimination, and are designed with consideration for historical responsibility for climate change. In climate adaptation, this can entail prioritising the perspectives of vulnerable groups like persons with disabilities, older people, children, women and girls, Indigenous Peoples and migrants and refugees to design adaptation strategies that meet their needs and don’t put them at further risk. In a just transition, States and the private sector should maximise employment and skills development opportunities for vulnerable groups; provide for Indigenous Peoples’ co-ownership and benefit-sharing of transition projects; and both consult and protect human rights defenders in just transition policy development and implementation, among other things. Climate finance should increase budget allocations for projects that protect and prioritise the rights of vulnerable groups, as well as ensuring access to finance for historically marginalised groups. The UNSR signals that she will continue to explore the application of intersectionality to climate change responses, including through a heightened focus on corporate accountability and the impacts of new climate mitigation technologies on human rights.
