Environmental obligations for business in the legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights

Friends of the Earth International argues that environmental rights are human rights and should form an autonomous basis for corporate liability in the UN Legally Binding Instrument. The document provides textual suggestions to ensure TNCs are obligated to prevent environmental harm, phase out emissions, and provide full ecological restoration, moving beyond voluntary due diligence and ESG frameworks.

• Environmental rights are recognized as human rights under international law, specifically through UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/76/300 (2022), which establishes the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a universal human right.
• The report argues that environmental harm should be treated as an autonomous violation and an independent basis for corporate liability, rather than only as a means of violating other rights like health or life.
• The document criticizes an overreliance on corporate due diligence procedures, arguing that they risk becoming self-monitoring exercises that undermine liability and should be supplemented by measures like free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) and technical assistance.
• Proposed obligations for TNCs include the requirement to rapidly phase out both direct and indirect emissions across their entire value chain, treating this as an 'obligation of result' rather than merely an 'obligation of means'.
• Full reparation for environmental violations must extend beyond financial compensation to include environmental remediation and ecological restoration to return the environment to its pre-violation state.
• The report advocates for the primacy of human and environmental obligations over bilateral or multilateral trade and investment agreements, which are often used by corporations to obstruct national environmental legislation.
• The document highlights a global trend of rights-based climate litigation, citing specific court cases in Pakistan (Leghari v. Federation of Pakistan), India (M.C. Mehta), Nepal (Ramchandra Simkhanda v. Government of Nepal), and Bangladesh (Dr. Mohiuddin Farooque v. Bangladesh) as evidence of the convergence between environmental protection and human rights.

APA

Soares, A., Paranhos, L., Villareal, A., & Fandel, G. (2025). Environmental obligations for business in the legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Binding-Treaty-Climate-reccs-5-2.pdf

Chicago

Soares, Andressa, Letícia Paranhos, Alberto Villareal, and Ghislaine Fandel. Environmental obligations for business in the legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights. Friends of the Earth International, 2025. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Binding-Treaty-Climate-reccs-5-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Soares |first1=Andressa |last2=Paranhos |first2=Letícia |last3=Villareal |first3=Alberto |last4=Fandel |first4=Ghislaine |title=Environmental obligations for business in the legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=October 2025 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Binding-Treaty-Climate-reccs-5-2.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{soares2025environmental, author = {Soares, Andressa and Paranhos, Letícia and Villareal, Alberto and Fandel, Ghislaine}, title = {{Environmental obligations for business in the legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Binding-Treaty-Climate-reccs-5-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }