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HC Türk on the climate emergency: Human rights are a compass for a just transition

30 June 2025
Delivered by: United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk

Mr. President, distinguished delegates,

The climate crisis is a human rights crisis. Rising temperatures, rising seas, floods, droughts, and wildfires threaten our rights to life, to health, to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and much more.

The heat wave we are currently experiencing here shows us the importance of adaptation measures, without which human rights would be severely impacted.

It is equally clear that our current production and consumption patterns are unsustainable, and that renewables are the energy source of the future. Production capacity for renewables increased five-fold between 2011 and 2023.

What we need now is a roadmap that shows us how to rethink our societies, economies and politics in ways that are equitable and sustainable. That is, a just transition.

This shift requires an end to the production and use of fossil fuels and other environmentally destructive activities across all sectors - from energy to farming to finance to construction and beyond.

This will be one of the greatest transformations our world has ever seen.

And it has serious implications for human rights.

If we don’t safeguard people’s lives, their health, their jobs and their future opportunities, the transition will replicate and exacerbate the injustices and inequalities in our world.

The rich and powerful will benefit; the poor and vulnerable will lose out.

Are we taking the steps needed to protect people from climate chaos, safeguard their futures, and manage natural resources in ways that respect human rights and the environment?

Sadly, the evidence so far is that we are not – particularly in the energy sector.

Distinguished delegates,

At this early stage of a full transition to renewables, States and companies need to take measures to ensure no one is left behind.

Take jobs, for example.

The climate crisis and the transition to renewables are reshaping job markets.

While the transition is projected to generate tens of millions of jobs, other jobs face potential disruption.

For example, around 6 million jobs in the fossil fuel sector could be lost – and many workers are completely unprotected.

In the wider context of social protection, today, some 3.8 billion people around the world lack any form of social safety net.

And the more vulnerable a country is to climate impacts, the less likely its people are to benefit from social protection.

The world can and must do better, starting with universal social protection that supports people through the transition to jobs in green industries. And let me recall that these schemes are not costly.

Human rights norms and standards offer essential foundations and a compass for a just transition.

The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights affirms every person’s rights to freely chosen work and to social security.

Indigenous Peoples have a special place in just transitions, because more than half the energy transition minerals and metals projects are located on or near their lands and territories. Indigenous Peoples have the right to free, prior and informed consent.

And governments committed last year, in the landmark Declaration on Future Generations, to creating and maintaining a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, where humanity lives in harmony with nature.

Human rights law is also a strong lever for progress.

Recent decisions by the European Court of Human Rights; the Inter-American Court of Human Rights; and other regional and national justice institutions, have clarified the human rights obligations of States to combat climate change and protect the environment.

Mr. President,

A just transition spans many areas: financing, gender equality, peace and security, corporate responsibility and accountability, and more.

Respect for human rights must be a cross-cutting theme that unites all these areas.

Let me give you some examples.

First, development finance. Most international support for a just transition comes in the form of loans that can increase debt burdens for developing countries.

Some 3.3 billion people now live in countries that spend more on debt interest payments than on either education or health – with a clear impact on the enjoyment of human rights by their people. In emerging and developing countries, debt interest payments outweigh climate investments.

Human rights require scaled-up, grant-based finance that doesn’t add to an overwhelming debt burden.

Second, the gender gap in green and technological skills is growing. Women are less than one-third of the workforce in renewable energy sectors.

Targeted measures towards gender equality are a precondition for a successful and just transition.

Third, geopolitical competition among countries and companies is undermining rights and equity in the extraction of critical transition minerals. In some cases, including in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, competition over these minerals has fueled conflict.

Resource governance based on human rights, led by communities, can ensure that critical minerals serve renewable energy rather than warfare.

Fourth, corporate accountability for fossil fuel companies is utterly inadequate.

Fossil fuel corporations perpetuate misinformation and disinformation, and peddle false solutions and greenwashing that distract from continued damage.

Polluters must pay.

We must build on proposals, including the billionaire tax initiative, and the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, to make sure people and corporations that have caused and benefitted from planetary harm pay for it.

Mr. President,

At the national level, I urge States to support a just transition by building human rights economies that prioritize sustainable, inclusive development.

All States need to conduct impact assessments of their budgetary, investment and energy policies on the enjoyment of human rights and the environment. Fossil fuel subsidies need to be redirected towards renewable energy, sustainable food systems, and social safety nets.

Policies need to be based on metrics that go beyond Gross Domestic Product, by measuring human development, equality, and environmental sustainability. This was part of the discussion of the Pact for the Future.

And regulations must protect people and nature from unprincipled corporate behaviour. They should aim to reduce and eliminate discrimination and inequalities; and build systems and services that are inclusive and sustainable.

My Office is working around the world to support governments in developing rights-based policies and laws; advocating for rights-based approaches to a just transition; and working to protect human rights defenders who are fighting for our environment.

Mr. President,

Finally, a just transition – which is fundamental to humanity’s present and future wellbeing – requires solidarity, cooperation, and financial support for many developing economies.

I hope all Governments represented here today will join forces to meet these urgent needs.

Thank you.