Ensuring a just transition: The electric vehicle revolution from a human rights perspective

Abstract

Despite the potential of electric vehicles (EVs) to mitigate climate change and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, their rapid adoption presents nuanced challenges to both social equity and environmental stewardship within the transportation sector. While the EV revolution contributes to energy independence, job creation, and sustainable development, it also raises concerns regarding its potential impact on the human rights of people impacted by the production, use, and end-of-life of EVs. Unfortunately, current studies on transportation electrification often fail to provide a systematic review of such human rights challenges and concerns. This paper aims to fill this gap by analyzing the potential impacts and challenges that EVs present for human rights throughout their life cycle, and by proposing potential measures to address human rights violations. Our analysis draws on international human rights norms, law, and standards because of their universality and suitability for developing baseline indicators, modes of inquiry, and reporting that can be used to assess the potential harm of EVs to vulnerable communities and degraded ecosystems. The aim is to enable stakeholders (i.e., actors within civil society, government, and the private sector) to better understand the potential social and environmental challenges of EVs and ensure that the transition to low-carbon transportation is equitable, sustainable, and supportive of human rights.