CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS

The document examines how global warming threatens fundamental human rights—including the rights to food, water, health, and housing—and explores the legal frameworks available for redress. It reviews international environmental law, the outcomes of the 2009 Copenhagen Conference, and existing jurisprudence from human rights tribunals. The authors argue that climate-related harms are not 'new territory' for litigation but fit within established legal principles. The paper specifically evaluates the CESCR's current work and proposes eleven recommendations to better anchor climate change in the Committee's state reporting, general comments, and the use of its Optional Protocol for individual and inter-state complaints.

• Climate change poses direct threats to a wide array of human rights, specifically impacting the rights to life, health, food, water, adequate housing, and self-determination. Vulnerable groups, including indigenous peoples, women, children, and those in small-island States, are at the highest risk.
• Human rights considerations were largely marginal in the outcomes of the 2009 Copenhagen Conference, with rights-related language appearing in a fragmented and uncoordinated manner across different negotiating bodies.
• International environmental law has evolved from narrow pollution clean-up to holistic governance, establishing key principles such as the 'precautionary principle', 'polluter pays', and 'common but differentiated responsibilities' that align with human rights law.
• Existing jurisprudence from human rights tribunals establishes that environmental harm can violate protected rights in three ways: by directly affecting a right, by implicating procedural rights (like the duty to inform), or through public environmental protection measures that impact rights.
• Climate change litigation has matured, with courts increasingly accepting that an 'incremental contribution' to global warming is sufficient to establish a 'meaningful' connection for legal standing, as seen in the U.S. Supreme Court case Massachusetts v EPA.
• The CESCR has already begun integrating climate and environmental factors into its General Comments, linking the right to water to climate change and desertification, and noting that the right to health extends to a 'healthy environment'.
• The CESCR's Concluding Observations have specifically addressed climate change in reports for Ukraine, Australia, and Cambodia, though the Committee's overall engagement with the topic remains limited.
• The Optional Protocol to the Covenant provides a potential mechanism for individuals and groups to seek redress for climate-related grievances, including failures by States to provide adequate protection or the negative impacts of mitigation projects like REDD.
• The authors recommend that the CESCR adopt several proactive measures, including drafting model questions for state reviews, scheduling a Day of General Discussion, and potentially adopting a General Comment on climate change and human rights.

APA

Orellana, M. A., Kothari, M., & Chaudhry, S. (2010). CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CESCR_CC_03May10.pdf

Chicago

Orellana, Marcos A., Miloon Kothari, and Shivani Chaudhry. CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS. Center for International Environmental Law, 2010. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CESCR_CC_03May10.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Orellana |first1=Marcos A. |last2=Kothari |first2=Miloon |last3=Chaudhry |first3=Shivani |title=CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=May 2010 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CESCR_CC_03May10.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{orellana2010climate, author = {Orellana, Marcos A. and Kothari, Miloon and Chaudhry, Shivani}, title = {{CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE WORK OF THE COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2010}, month = may, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CESCR_CC_03May10.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }