Human Rights and Climate Change

A/HRC/RES/56/8View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2024.

What other versions does this mandate have?

15 versions · 2008–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/59/25

2025A/HRC/RES/59/25Human rights and climate changeLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/HRC/RES/56/8Human rights and climate changeCompare with previous version
2023A/HRC/RES/53/6Human rights and climate changeCompare with previous version
2022A/HRC/RES/50/9Human rights and climate changeCompare with previous version
2021A/HRC/RES/47/24Human rights and climate changeCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 topics

Climate Change Climate Change Adaptation Climate Change Mitigation Green Economy Human Rights Sustainable Development

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2025.

2025A/HRC/60/52Synthesis report on opportunities, best practices, actionable solutions, challenges and barriers relevant to just transition and the full realization of human rights for all people report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

22 operative paragraphs

Expresses grave concern that climate change has contributed and continues to contribute to the increased frequency and intensity of both extreme weather events and slow-onset events, and that these adversely affect the full enjoyment of all human rights;

Emphasizes the importance of continuing to address urgently, as they relate to States’ human rights obligations, climate change and its adverse consequences for all, particularly in developing countries and for the people whose situation is most vulnerable to climate change;

Calls upon States to consider, among other aspects, human rights within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement adopted under the Convention;

Encourages States that have not yet ratified or acceded to the Paris Agreement to do so;

Recognizes the importance for all countries of averting, minimizing and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including extreme weather events and slow-onset events, and the role of sustainable development in reducing the risk of loss and damage, and in that regard looks forward to the further operationalization of the Santiago Network and the operationalization of the new funding arrangements, including a fund that was established in Sharm El Sheikh at the twenty-seventh session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the fourth Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement, 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 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement;

Calls for deep and rapid cuts in global emissions to avert, minimize and address loss and damage from extreme weather and slow-onset climate events that have an adverse impact on the enjoyment of human rights;

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

Urges States to adopt an ambitious new collective quantified goal on climate finance at the twenty-ninth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to assist developing countries in their adaptation and mitigation initiatives, including in the pursuit of just transition pathways from a high-carbon economy to a low-carbon economy;

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, health-care 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, and ensure that services can be adapted to emergency and humanitarian contexts;

Urges States to develop and effectively implement policies that facilitate just transitions, in accordance with nationally defined development priorities, ensuring that the transition pathways from high-carbon to low-carbon economies are fair, equitable, inclusive and sustainable, leaving no one behind, creating decent work and quality jobs, enhancing social security, addressing joblessness, reducing inequalities and poverty, align with national circumstances and uphold the human rights of all, with special attention to supporting those most affected by climate change and the measures taken in response to it, including workers and affected communities, and persons in vulnerable situations;

Encourages States to develop more national case studies involving the assessment and analysis of the positive and negative impacts of the implementation of just transition measures in the context of human rights to enable an exchange of experience, best practices and lessons learned among States, considering the work under the work programme on just transition established in decision 1/CMA.4;

Recognizes the link between the adverse impacts of climate change, including on livelihoods, displacement and migration, and encourages States to implement adaptation measures that benefit the most vulnerable, facilitate safe and voluntary movement, minimize forced movement and address human rights protection gaps in order to, inter alia, reduce the risk of trafficking and exploitation of people on the move, especially women and girls;

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, 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;

Reaffirms its commitment to advocate for combating climate change and addressing its adverse impact on the full and effective enjoyment of human rights, and recognizes the importance of the safe and meaningful participation of civil society in climate action and the work of the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms in the context of climate change, conducted in a regular, systematic and transparent manner;

Recalls Human Rights Council resolution 47/24 of 14 July 2021, in which the Council decided to incorporate into its annual programme of work, beginning in 2023, at a minimum a panel discussion, and decides that the annual panel discussion to be held at the fifty-ninth session shall be focused on facilitating just transitions in the context of addressing the adverse impacts of climate change on the full realization of human rights for all people, and ways forward to address the challenges thereto, as well as on best practices and lessons learned, and also decides that the panel discussion will have International Sign interpretation and captioning;

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to submit a summary report on the panel discussion held at the fifty-ninth session to the Human Rights Council at its sixty-first 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 Environment Programme, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Labour Organization, 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 a synthesis report on opportunities, best practices, actionable solutions, challenges and barriers relevant to a just transition and the full realization of human rights for all people, and to submit the report to the Council at its sixtieth 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 United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 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;

Decides to remain seized of the matter.

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What does this mandate say?

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