Integrating Human Rights in the Paris Implementation Guidelines

The document reviews the integration of human rights and social principles across four key areas of the Paris Agreement implementation guidelines: Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), Adaptation Communications, the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF), and the Global Stocktake (GST). It highlights that while some parties, notably Norway, Canada, and the African Group of Negotiators, have pushed for the inclusion of human rights and gender equality, these elements often remain absent from co-facilitator summaries or are limited to specific contexts like adaptation. The briefing notes that the role of civil society and intergovernmental organizations in the ETF and GST processes is a critical factor for ensuring social dimensions are considered in future climate action.

• The integration of human rights and social principles in future climate action depends on whether implementation guidelines move beyond quantitative metrics to a qualitative perspective that considers how action contributes to human rights obligations.
• Efforts to include human rights, public participation, gender equality, and traditional knowledge in the guidelines for NDCs have seen limited support; specifically, a proposal by Norway supported by Canada and the African Group of Negotiators was excluded from the co-facilitators' final report.
• Guidance for Adaptation Communications provides a strong entry point for integrating gender-responsive and participatory approaches, as these are explicitly listed in Article 7.5 of the Paris Agreement.
• Within the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF), proposals to include social considerations such as gender, participation, and indigenous knowledge are primarily limited to adaptation and means of implementation, with no current references to human rights in the informal note.
• The Global Stocktake (GST) currently excludes human rights, gender, and indigenous peoples' rights from its scope, although it does mention other social issues such as food security, poverty eradication, and climate refugees.
• The ability to broaden the scope of the Global Stocktake to include human dimensions may depend on the modalities allowing civil society and intergovernmental organizations to provide inputs.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2018). Integrating Human Rights in the Paris Implementation Guidelines. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/StateOfPlay_APA_COP23-final.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Integrating Human Rights in the Paris Implementation Guidelines. 2018. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/StateOfPlay_APA_COP23-final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Integrating Human Rights in the Paris Implementation Guidelines |date=February 2018 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/StateOfPlay_APA_COP23-final.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2018integrating, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Integrating Human Rights in the Paris Implementation Guidelines}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2018}, month = feb, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/StateOfPlay_APA_COP23-final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }