Frequently asked questions: UN human rights complaint regarding Saudi Aramco and its financiers

ClientEarth filed a complaint with UN Special Procedures alleging that Saudi Aramco is responsible for the world's largest climate-linked breach of human rights law. The UN experts issued Communications to Saudi Aramco, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and several global financial institutions, asking them to clarify their compliance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The document highlights Aramco's role as a massive corporate emitter and the responsibility of banks—including JPMorgan Chase and HSBC—that facilitate its operations. It further argues that the Saudi government is failing in its duty to regulate Aramco and that the company's sustainability claims are misleading.

• ClientEarth alleges that Saudi Aramco is responsible for the largest climate-linked breach of human rights law by a business, attributing more than 4% of all historic carbon emissions since 1965 to the company.
• UN human rights experts issued Communications to Saudi Aramco, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and various financial businesses to investigate allegations of non-compliance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
• The complaint identifies several large financial institutions that provide support to Aramco through lending, investing, or advising on transactions, including JPMorgan Chase, Citi, HSBC, SMBC, Crédit Agricole, Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, Mizuho, Société Générale, and EIG Global Energy Partners.
• The Saudi Arabian government is implicated in the complaint because it owns 98.5% of the Aramco group and is allegedly failing to regulate the company to respect human rights.
• ClientEarth argues that Aramco's sustainability marketing is misleading and that its activities, such as exploring for new reserves and using 'unconventional' extraction like fracking, are not aligned with the Paris Agreement goals.

APA

ClientEarth (n.d.). Frequently asked questions: UN human rights complaint regarding Saudi Aramco and its financiers. https://www.clientearth.org/media/4loj005o/faq-un-human-rights-complaint-regarding-saudi-aramco-and-its-financiers.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Frequently asked questions: UN human rights complaint regarding Saudi Aramco and its financiers. n.d. https://www.clientearth.org/media/4loj005o/faq-un-human-rights-complaint-regarding-saudi-aramco-and-its-financiers.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Frequently asked questions: UN human rights complaint regarding Saudi Aramco and its financiers |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/4loj005o/faq-un-human-rights-complaint-regarding-saudi-aramco-and-its-financiers.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearthndfrequently, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Frequently asked questions: UN human rights complaint regarding Saudi Aramco and its financiers}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/4loj005o/faq-un-human-rights-complaint-regarding-saudi-aramco-and-its-financiers.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }