Climate Change and Human Rights

The document examines the intersection of climate change and human rights, detailing how environmental degradation threatens rights to life, food, health, water, and housing. It outlines the obligations of states to respect, protect, and fulfil these rights, and the responsibilities of businesses to reduce emissions and provide remedies. The handbook specifically focuses on the role of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), presenting case studies of their work in monitoring impacts, handling complaints, providing policy advice, and engaging in international mechanisms like the UNFCCC and the Universal Periodic Review. It highlights that nearly half of Paris Principles-compliant NHRIs have engaged in climate change work, using tools ranging from digital mapping to formal inquiries into 'carbon majors'.

• Climate change directly threatens fundamental human rights, including the rights to life, food, health, water, and housing, and is expected to cause over 250,000 deaths per year by 2030 through heat-related deaths, extreme weather, zoonotic diseases, and food insecurity.
• Climate mitigation and adaptation measures can themselves cause human rights violations if implemented without safeguards, such as forced displacement and loss of subsistence in large-scale renewable energy or carbon capture projects.
• States have a three-fold obligation regarding climate change: to respect (refrain from harming the atmosphere), protect (prevent third-party abuses and protect environmental defenders), and fulfil (implement human rights-based climate laws and ensure access to justice).
• Businesses have five primary responsibilities related to climate change: reducing emissions from their own activities and products, minimising supplier emissions, disclosing climate vulnerability and emissions, ensuring access to remedies for violations, and supporting effective public climate policies.
• NHRIs use a variety of protective functions to address climate change, including domestic monitoring of drought and flood impacts, submitting parallel reports to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), and conducting independent investigations into environmental harms.
• NHRIs engage in promotional activities such as hosting public workshops, producing research reports on the link between sustainability and poverty, and providing policy advice to governments to ensure a human rights-based approach to climate legislation.
• The Philippines Commission on Human Rights conducted a significant inquiry into 'Carbon Majors', arguing that the largest global fossil fuel companies have a moral responsibility for human rights impacts linked to climate change.
• International climate funds, such as the Adaptation Fund and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), have established social and environmental safeguards and redress mechanisms to protect human rights in funded projects.
• Proactive climate litigation is increasing globally, with cases in at least 28 countries challenging government inaction or corporate responsibility, often citing human rights arguments to secure stronger mitigation policies.

APA

Eisen, N., & Eschke, N. (2020). Climate Change and Human Rights. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Climate-Change-and-Human-Rights_final.pdf

Chicago

Eisen, Nathaniel, and Nina Eschke. Climate Change and Human Rights. Center for International Environmental Law, 2020. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Climate-Change-and-Human-Rights_final.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Eisen |first1=Nathaniel |last2=Eschke |first2=Nina |title=Climate Change and Human Rights |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=November 2020 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Climate-Change-and-Human-Rights_final.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{eisen2020climate, author = {Eisen, Nathaniel and Eschke, Nina}, title = {{Climate Change and Human Rights}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2020}, month = nov, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Climate-Change-and-Human-Rights_final.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }