Search Climate Insights Directory

This document is a selected bibliography titled "HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY," compiled by David Downes for the Center for International Environmental Law and dated July 1, 1992. It provides a curated list of legal cases, United Nations reports, World Bank operational directives, and academic literature concerning the intersection of human rights, indigenous peoples' rights, and environmental protection.

This briefing note by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (GIESCR) reviews the 2023 outputs of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) regarding climate change. It details the Committee's focus on gender-responsive adaptation, the disproportionate impact of climate change on marginalized women, and recommendations concerning fossil fuel extraction and climate finance.

This briefing note by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social & Cultural Rights (GIESCR) reviews the 2023 activities of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) regarding climate change and environmental protection.

This synthesis note, published by the Center for International Environmental Law and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, examines how United Nations human rights treaty bodies (HRTBs) use their state reporting procedures to define the obligations of States to respect, protect, and fulfil human rights in the context of climate change. The report focuses on the work of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), and the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) up to December 2017.

This report by the Center for International Environmental Law and the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights examines how the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) interprets state obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in relation to climate change.

This briefing, produced by a coalition of climate litigation practitioners, provides structured 'Litigation Notes' to help lawyers apply the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) July 23, 2025, advisory opinion (AO) on States' climate obligations. Specifically, this note focuses on the ICJ's conclusion that the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a binding norm of international law and a necessary precondition for the enjoyment of other human rights.

This research paper examines the intersection of international environmental law and foreign direct investment (FDI), analyzing how emerging legal principles, multilateral treaties, and public financing standards influence private capital flows. It highlights the tension between global economic expansion and sustainable development, specifically addressing the risks of 'pollution havens' and the increasing trend of transnational environmental litigation against multinational corporations in their home country courts.

This 1996 report summarizes a regional workshop in Hong Kong focused on making environmental law more effective in East and Southeast Asia. The participants concluded that environmental protection is often undermined by a lack of integration with economic planning, corruption, and poor land-use planning. Key recommendations include simplifying laws to reduce corruption, improving inter-agency coordination, increasing public participation and transparency in monitoring and EIAs, and adopting alternative dispute resolution methods that align with local cultural contexts.

This briefing by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) provides a critical analysis of the UNEP 'Options for Elements' Paper prepared for the second session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-2). The document evaluates the proposed core obligations and control measures for a new legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, highlighting gaps where the Options Paper fails to reflect the ambition of Member State submissions, particularly regarding upstream production limits, chemical safety, and the protection of human health.

This research paper examines the intersection of international intellectual property (IP) rights, global trade, economic development, and environmental protection. It analyzes how IP regimes—specifically patents, copyrights, and trademarks—impact the transfer of environmentally sound technologies and the conservation of biological diversity, focusing on the tensions between industrialized nations (led by the US) and developing countries within frameworks like GATT, NAFTA, and the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

This briefing by the Center for International Environmental Law outlines several reform options for Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) to be considered by UNCITRAL Working Group III. The document argues that current ISDS mechanisms are asymmetrical, often ignoring state obligations and public interest, and proposes alternatives such as multilateral treaty termination, the allowance of state counterclaims, public interest carve-outs, 'clean hands' clauses for investors, the requirement to exhaust local remedies, and expanded third-party access to proceedings.

This fact sheet from the Climate Policy Initiative explains Catastrophe (CAT) bonds, which are high-yield debt instruments used by insurers and governments to transfer natural disaster financial risks to capital market investors. The document details the structural triggers of these bonds, the roles of various providers, the capacity requirements for implementation, and the specific challenges and solutions for different market maturity levels.

The Climate Smart Shrimp Fund (CSSF), proposed by Conservation International, is a financial mechanism designed to help shrimp farmers transition to sustainable production systems while restoring mangrove ecosystems. The fund combines a technical assistance facility with a revolving debt facility to improve farm efficiency, reduce disease risks, and increase carbon sequestration.

The report identifies a USD 125 billion investment gap for Indonesia's 2025 clean energy targets and argues that while general guarantee products exist, none specifically target renewable energy. It proposes that a local credit guarantee, potentially developed by PT SMI, could catalyze private investment by addressing security gaps for small developers and improving risk-return profiles, despite challenges such as competition from corporate guarantees and bank demands for 'first demand' reimbursement.

This executive summary analyzes finance commitments for electricity and clean cooking access in 20 high-impact countries between 2013-14 and 2015-16. While electricity finance increased, it remains insufficient to meet 2030 universal access goals, with a significant geographical imbalance favoring Asia over Sub-Saharan Africa. Finance for clean cooking has decreased and remains critically low.

This fact sheet describes risk pooling mechanisms that aggregate risks across countries or portfolios to diversify exposure and secure rapid liquidity after disasters. It details the application of these pools in disaster risk management, agriculture, and urban resilience, highlighting the role of parametric instruments and catastrophe bonds in protecting sovereign balance sheets.

This executive summary from Ember reports that wind and solar power reached 10.3% of global electricity generation in 2021. While clean energy sources collectively provided 38% of global electricity, the report highlights a concerning record increase in coal power and carbon emissions, driven largely by surging electricity demand in Asia.

This fact sheet by Ember provides global electricity insights ahead of COP27, detailing the acceleration of clean energy, regional trends in Europe and Asia, and the role of coal mine methane emissions.

This guide details the methodology used by Ember for its monthly wind and solar capacity dataset, which as of March 20, 2026, covers 25 countries and regions representing approximately 92% of global solar and 91% of global wind capacity.

This executive summary from Ember reports that while wind and solar energy reached a record 10.3% of global electricity generation in 2021, global electricity demand grew faster than clean energy could keep up with. This resulted in record-high coal generation and CO2 emissions from the power sector in 2021, driven largely by demand increases in Asia.