Call For Inputs - Fossil Fuel-Based Economy and Human Rights

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
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In her upcoming report to the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur seeks to synthesise and analyse a varied body of evidence (from across the natural and social sciences, including Indigenous science and other knowledge systems) of the human rights impacts of the fossil fuel-based economy on the basis of a life-cycle approach, and expected impacts of the phase out of fossil fuels and related subsidies. On that basis, the report will seek to clarify States’ international human rights obligations, individually and as part of international cooperation, as well as business responsibility, to ensure a just transition away from fossil fuels and the phase out of fossil fuel subsidies, in order to protect and respect human rights in the context of climate change. The obligations will be clarified giving due consideration to: the need to scale up global action and support in addressing climate change, including in averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change; and the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, including the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances and in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty, all in pursuit of the objectives of the Convention and the Paris Agreement.