A/HRC/44/44
solidarity towards marginalized groups who are connected transnationally by experiences
of disentitlement that climate change compounds.
V.
Conclusions and recommendations for human rights-based reform
53.
Given the existential threat posed by climate change and the negative human
rights implications of the deficient progress made thus far to address many facets of
the problem through cooperation, common but differentiated responsibilities and
respective capabilities and the highest possible ambition for direct action (i.e., human
rights-based international solidarity), it is imperative that States and other actors
vastly strengthen their efforts to address the concerns raised in the present report.
The Human Rights Council is very well positioned to facilitate that process.
54.
In light of the topics discussed in the report, the Independent Expert makes the
following recommendations:
(a)
All States, corporations and international organizations should take all
necessary separate and joint steps towards achieving net-zero emissions by 2050,
consistent with their highest possible ambitions to reduce emissions and the common
objective of keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5°C under the Paris
Agreement;
(b)
To that end, States, corporations and financial institutions, particularly
the highest emitting States, in historical and contemporary terms, should consider
ceasing to pursue the exploration of and new investments in fossil fuels as a matter of
human rights-based international solidarity, since the shared carbon budget will be
exceeded if already existing and proposed fossil fuel developments proceed;
(c)
States, corporations and financial institutions should cooperate to ensure
that any transformation of the fossil fuel economy (which is imperative) does not
perpetuate asymmetries between richer and poorer States and peoples. As countries
phase down or even phase out their fossil fuel operations, wealthier countries should
provide poorer countries that are less adaptable to the transition with support based
on the right to development of the poorer States, and the social and economic rights of
their people that are tied to energy systems;
(d)
States and corporations should cooperate to reform basic transnational
norms of corporate governance to ensure that corporate decision-making prioritizes
the protection of international human rights threatened by climate change over
profits and other financial interests;
(e)
States should cooperate in good faith towards elaborating a treaty to
regulate the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises
under international human rights law to – in part – help correct the inability, or
unwillingness, of States to regulate the contributions that such entities make to climate
change as a result of their transnational organization and operations;
(f)
States should meet their obligations to provide financial and
technological support to other States under the international climate regime, scale up
these obligations as much as possible, and stipulate precise obligations where this level
of precision is lacking, consistent with the principle of common but differentiated
responsibilities and respective capabilities. In doing so, they should eliminate barriers
that prevent developing countries, especially the poorest and most vulnerable among
them, from accessing international climate finance and technologies, including
barriers created by intellectual property rights regimes;
(g)
States should cooperate through the international climate regime and
international human rights community, including through ILO, to guarantee access to
justice in the context of climate change with respect to the following:
(i)
Rectifying loss and damage associated with the inequalities perpetuated
by climate change, including by giving this agenda the same priority as
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