Human rights and climate change

Abstract

The relationship between climate change and human rights law has come under increased scrutiny in the last decade. Since 2008, human rights bodies have recognised that both climate change and climate change response measures may affect the enjoyment of human rights. Parties to the climate regime have followed suit, slowly but surely incorporating human rights language in their decisions. Then, in 2015, the Paris Agreement became the first international environmental treaty to make an explicit reference to states’ human rights obligations. This chapter analyses these developments, looking at progress made, as well as obstacles standing on the way of greater cooperation between the climate change and human rights regimes.