Human Rights and Climate Change

Calls upon all States to respect and ensure the effective enjoyment of human rights of peoples and individuals under international law, by taking necessary measures to protect the climate system and other parts of the environment;

Encourages States that are not parties to the Paris Agreement to ratify, accept, approve or accede to it;

Urges the replenishment of the Santiago Network and the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage to assist developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in responding to loss and damage associated with the adverse impacts of climate change, in the context of relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention and of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement;

Calls upon countries to contribute to the global efforts as outlined in paragraph 28 (a) to (h) of decision 1/CMA.5,⁶ in line with 1.5°C pathways and in a nationally determined manner, taking into account the Paris Agreement and their different national circumstances, pathways and approaches, and stresses the importance of reflecting equity and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities in the light of different national circumstances;

Calls upon all States to adopt a country-driven, people-centred, comprehensive, integrated, gender-responsive, age-inclusive and disability-inclusive approach to climate change adaptation and mitigation policies based on the best available science, consistent with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement adopted under the Convention and the objective and principles thereof, to address efficiently the economic, cultural and social impact and human rights challenges that climate change presents, for the full and effective enjoyment of human rights for all;

Calls upon States to better promote the human rights of persons in vulnerable situations, their inclusion in risk reduction decision-making and their access to livelihoods, food and nutrition, safe drinking water and sanitation, social protection, healthcare services and medicines, education and training, adequate housing and decent work, clean and low-emission energy, science and technology, including digital technology and early warning systems, in the light of the right of everyone to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications, and ensure that services can be adapted to emergency and humanitarian contexts;

Urges States to strengthen adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies that reduce vulnerability, support resilience and address displacement, human mobility and migration in the context of climate change, including by facilitating safe, voluntary and dignified movement in accordance with applicable international law and by addressing protection gaps affecting persons moving across borders, especially women and girls, older persons and persons with disabilities;

Calls upon States to fulfil their obligations of international cooperation in addressing climate change, including in enhancing support for developing countries, especially those that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, and reiterates the urgency of scaling up action and support, in particular in financing, the transfer of technology and capacity-building for mitigation, adaptation, and averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage;

Calls upon States and all relevant stakeholders, with developed countries taking the lead, to promote equitable access to finance and resources for enhancing the adaptive capacities of the most affected communities, including by providing new, additional, quality, predictable, flexible and grants-based climate funding to developing countries, including dedicated assistance for debt-stressed countries, in accordance with the principle of equity, climate justice and the right to development, as a progressive implementation of the obligations of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement;

Urges States to take urgent effective measures to fulfil, at the minimum, the new collective quantified goal on climate finance, adopted at the twenty-ninth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Baku, and to cooperate in implementing the Baku to Belém Roadmap to 1.3T aiming at scaling up climate finance to developing country Parties to support low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development pathways and implement the nationally determined contributions and national adaptation plans;

Encourages States, development partners, international financial institutions, multilateral development banks and other financial actors to enhance equitable and simplified access to climate finance, including through direct access arrangements, increased small grant financing, timely concessional and low-cost financial resource mobilization schemes, and fair debt relief and other fiscal space-related measures;

Encourages States to accelerate reforms of the international financial architecture, including the discussion on a United Nations framework convention on international tax cooperation, to support pathways for climate resilient development;

Urges States, consistent with the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, to uphold the principle of corporate responsibility to respect human rights, including the responsibility to avoid causing or contributing to adverse human rights impacts through business activities that may harm the environment and the climate system, in accordance with national pathways, circumstances and approaches;

Calls upon business enterprises, both transnational and others, as well as international financial institutions, to meet their responsibility to respect human rights, including in the context of climate change and the environment, in conformity with their respective national laws;

Encourages States to implement human rights education initiatives with respect to the environment and climate change, taking into consideration the World Programme for Human Rights Education;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit a summary report on the panel discussion held at the sixty-fifth session to the Human Rights Council at its sixty-seventh session, and to make the report available in accessible formats, including in easy-to-read versions;

Requests the Secretary-General, in consultation with and taking into account the views of States, the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Labour Organization, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and other relevant international organizations and intergovernmental bodies, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and other stakeholders, to prepare an analytical study on “Human rights and climate adaptation: challenges, good practices, and recommendations on actionable pathways to safeguard the enjoyment of human rights of the present generation and the needs and interests of future generations”, and to submit the report to the Council at its sixty-sixth session, to be followed by an interactive dialogue, and also requests the Secretary-General to make the report available in accessible formats, including in easy-to-read versions;

Encourages relevant special procedure mandate holders to continue to consider the issue of climate change and human rights, including the adverse impact of climate change on the full and effective enjoyment of human rights, particularly the rights of persons in vulnerable situations, within their respective mandates;

Requests the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner to provide all the human, technical and financial assistance necessary for the effective and timely realization of the above-mentioned panel discussion, reports and interactive dialogue;