Search Climate Insights Directory

The document examines the link between biodiversity loss and human rights violations, asserting that transnational corporations drive ecological destruction through land grabbing and the marginalization of indigenous peoples. It criticizes voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) and 'due diligence' frameworks as insufficient 'false solutions' that maintain corporate impunity. The report calls for the transition from a 'stakeholder' to a 'rights-holder' approach within the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and proposes a legally binding treaty to enforce corporate accountability, mandatory free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and the protection of environmental defenders.

The document examines the link between biodiversity loss and human rights violations, specifically focusing on the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) in driving ecological destruction and suppressing defenders. It criticizes voluntary mechanisms like Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and due diligence as 'shields' for impunity and calls for a legally binding treaty on TNCs and human rights. The report emphasizes the importance of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and the recognition of Indigenous Peoples as rights-holders rather than mere stakeholders.

The report argues that transnational corporations (TNCs) like Chevron, Total, and Shell maintain a 'global architecture of impunity' through sophisticated lobbying networks that capture international governance. It specifically highlights the role of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) in influencing the UN Human Rights Council's negotiations for a binding treaty on TNCs and human rights. The document details environmental and human rights violations in the Global South, including oil pollution in Ecuador and Nigeria, and fossil fuel projects in Uganda and Mozambique, while demanding the exclusion of corporate lobbyists from treaty negotiations to ensure accountability.

The document critiques debt-for-nature swaps (DNS) as a 'green trap' that prioritizes creditor profits over biodiversity and sovereignty. It asserts that these mechanisms reinforce a cycle of extractivism and austerity in the Global South, where governments are forced to prioritize debt servicing over social and ecological investments. The author calls for the cancellation of illegitimate debts and a radical overhaul of the global financial architecture based on justice and reparation.

The document critiques debt-for-nature swaps (CDN), asserting they function as a 'green trap' that reinforces financial dependence and extractivism in the Global South. It claims these mechanisms transfer control of national territories and policies to foreign NGOs and private actors while providing minimal conservation funding. The text argues that the current international financial architecture forces indebted nations into a cycle of austerity and extractivism to service debts, and calls for the cancellation of illegitimate debts and the recognition of the North's ecological debt to the South.

The document critiques debt-for-nature swaps (EDN), asserting they are a 'green' facade for an unjust financial system. It argues that these mechanisms reinforce financial dependence, facilitate the privatization of common goods, and shift control of territories to foreign NGOs and private actors. The text highlights a 'vicious circle' where debt repayment forces countries toward extractivism and austerity, while modern EDN structures—often involving 'blue' or 'green' bonds—replace old debts with more opaque loans from international entities.

The report argues that TNCs like Chevron, Total, and Shell maintain a 'system of impunity' by leveraging powerful lobbying organizations, such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE), to shape international law. It documents severe human rights and environmental abuses linked to these companies in Ecuador, Mozambique, Uganda, Nigeria, and Palestine. The document specifically critiques the current UN negotiation process for the Binding Treaty, claiming that the inclusion of corporate lobbyists as 'stakeholders' creates a conflict of interest that dilutes accountability mechanisms and prioritizes corporate profit over human rights and planetary health.

The report argues that multinational corporations use lobbying networks like the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) to undermine the creation of a legally binding UN treaty on business and human rights. It documents environmental and human rights abuses by Chevron in Ecuador, Total in Uganda and Mozambique, and Shell in Nigeria, illustrating a systemic 'architecture of impunity'. The authors call for the exclusion of corporate lobbyists from UN negotiations to ensure the treaty prioritizes human rights over corporate profit.

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.

The policy brief by Friends of the Earth International advocates for a UN Binding Treaty to replace corporate self-regulation with enforceable legal obligations for transnational corporations (TNCs). It argues that TNCs across sectors like fossil fuels and agribusiness have driven the climate crisis and used 'green' branding to evade responsibility. The brief outlines five key recommendations: recognizing environmental rights as human rights, establishing direct corporate obligations for global value chains and emissions, mandating prevention and precaution measures, ensuring full ecological reparation and restoration, and rejecting ESG schemes as 'false solutions'.

The policy brief by Friends of the Earth International advocates for the integration of explicit environmental and climate obligations for transnational corporations (TNCs) into the UN's legally binding instrument. It argues that the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a recognized human right, as established by UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/76/300 and various regional courts. The document provides specific text proposals to ensure TNCs are held legally accountable for environmental damage, biodiversity loss, and climate change, moving beyond procedural due diligence to substantive obligations of result, including the total elimination of climate emissions across value chains and full ecological restoration.

Friends of the Earth International argues that transnational corporations drive the climate crisis through legal loopholes and voluntary codes of conduct. The organization advocates for a UN Binding Treaty that establishes legally enforceable obligations for companies to prevent environmental harm, recognize the right to a healthy environment as a human right, and provide full reparations for ecological damage, moving beyond corporate self-regulation and 'greenwashing'.

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) analyses the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), a hybrid investment fund led by Brazil to be launched at COP30. FoEI argues that the TFFF's 'blended finance' model, which offers US $4 per hectare for forest preservation, commodifies nature and prioritises private investor returns over the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs). The paper warns that the facility may create a 'vicious cycle of debt' for Global South countries and calls for direct financial reparations and land reform instead of profit-driven conservation schemes.

Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) argues that the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF) promotes the 'financierization of nature' by treating forests as financial assets. FoEI criticizes the TFFF's structure for prioritizing private investor returns over conservation, creating a potential debt cycle for Global South countries, and maintaining colonial power asymmetries through the involvement of the World Bank and other international financial institutions. While acknowledging the TFFF's commitment to allocate 20% of payments to Indigenous Peoples and local communities (PICL), FoEI deems this insufficient and calls for a systemic shift toward community-led forest management, debt cancellation, and historical reparations.

Friends of the Earth International opposes the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF), a Brazilian-led initiative designed to mobilize private finance for tropical forest conservation. The organization argues that the TFFF's 'blended finance' model—which prioritizes private investor returns over conservation payments—treats nature as a commodity and risks creating a cycle of debt for tropical forest countries. The paper criticizes the central role of the World Bank and the limited influence of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), calling instead for debt cancellation, historical reparations, and community-led forest management based on the intrinsic value of ecosystems.

The Kandy Declaration is a political roadmap produced during the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum in September 2025, calling for systemic transformation and global unity to achieve food sovereignty, climate and gender justice, and the defense of the commons.

The Kandy Declaration is a political roadmap developed during the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum in September 2025, aimed at systemic transformation and global justice.

The Kandy Declaration is a political roadmap produced during the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum in September 2025, calling for systemic transformation to replace capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism with economies of care and solidarity.

The Kandy Declaration, issued during the 3rd Nyéléni Global Forum in Sri Lanka, calls for a systemic transformation of global societies to dismantle capitalist and imperialist structures. It advocates for food sovereignty, agroecology, and a feminist just energy transition while opposing corporate monopolies over land, seeds, and water. The document commits to transforming the United Nations multilateral system, cancelling external sovereign debt, and holding transnational corporations accountable for human rights violations through a legally binding treaty.

The Kandy Declaration, emerging from the 3rd Global Nyéléni Forum in Sri Lanka, calls for a systemic transformation to combat the intersecting crises of climate, health, and food insecurity. It advocates for the protection of the 'commons'—including seeds, water, and land—against corporate extractivism and the 'blue' and 'green' neoliberal regimes. The document commits to a feminist and popular transition toward agroecology, a just energy transition, and the reform of the UN multilateral system to prioritize people over corporate interests.