Climate and Human Rights

The world is increasingly experiencing extreme weather events, such as heat waves, heavy rains and tropical cyclones. Moreover, global temperatures are risings faster now than at any other time in human history. A vast majority of climate researchers in the world connect this development to emissions of manmade greenhouse gases.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, climate change is the greatest threat against the realisation of human rights that we have ever seen. Under particular threat are such human rights as the right to life, development, health, food, water, an adequate living standard and cultural rights. Climate change does not have an impact on all humans and regions equally. Some are particularly vulnerable. The consequences are particularly severe for indigenous peoples, refugees, children, women, people with reduced functional ability, and small island states and developing countries.

The obligations of states

The states have the legal responsibility for respecting and protecting human rights. In a report the Norwegian Human Rights Institution (NIM) has highlighted the relationship between climate change and human rights and has clarified the responsibilities of states when it comes to the climate crisis. According to the report, all states have human rights obligations, and this gives them responsibilities in the climate field:

• They must cut down on emissions of greenhouse gases to prevent climate change.
• They must minimise damage from unavoidable climate change.
• They must consider human rights when assessing whether climate measures are proportionally fair and necessary.
• They must assess whether climate refugees who have come to the country have protection against being returned to their country of origin.

What about businesses and companies?

According to a report by Carbon Majors, 169 companies were responsible for 33.9 billion tons of CO₂ emissions in 2023, an increase of 0.7 per cent from 2022. The emissions constituted 78.4 per cent of world climate gas emissions from fossil fuels and cement. More than half of these emissions were made by only 36 companies.

Even though the states have the main responsibility for realising human rights, there are guiding principles that establish that commercial interests also have responsibilities. Some of the most important are the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, which lay down that companies have an independent responsibility for respecting human rights.

In recent years, national and regional obligations have also been adopted. Notably, the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) entered into force in 2024. According to the directive, companies are required to develop a transition plan to ensure their business models align with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Gradual development of international climate collaboration

When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948, climate and environmental issues were not high on the international agenda. The focus was on ensuring fundamental rights after the devastating world war which cost the lives of more than 70 million people. Over the most recent decades, however, climate and environmental issues have come more and more to the forefront in human rights work and international treaties and agreements.

IPCC (the Intragovernmental Panel on Climate Change), established in 1988, plays a key role in the global collaboration on climate issues. The panel prepares comprehensive scientific reports that provide states with a solid knowledge base for developing climate policies.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), established in 1992, has brought states together since 1995 in annual climate conferences (COP). The goal is to agree on measures to combat climate change. Through COP the states have negotiated two milestone agreements which regulate internationalcollaboration in this area:

• The Kyoto Protocol (1997), which set binding emission reduction goals on the industrial countries.
• The Paris Agreement (2015), which aims to limit global warning to less than 2°C. In its preamble the agreement emphasises that climate measures must take into consideration human rights, health, the rights of indigenous peoples, gender equality, children’s rights and generation rights.

In 2015 the UN adopted 17 sustainable development goals (SDG). In sum the sustainable development goals constitute a common agenda to ensure a good life for the world’s population, while also protecting nature and the climate.

Relevant information:

• Climate and human rights in the courts (HRA)
• UN World Court concludes landmark hearings on States’ responsibility for climate change