A/HRC/41/39 carbon emissions, while the richest 10 per cent are responsible for a full half. A person in the wealthiest 1 per cent uses 175 times more carbon than one in the bottom 10 per cent. 38 15. In addition to the economic benefits rich countries have already reaped from fossil fuels, one recent study found that climate change itself has already worsened global inequality and that the gap in per capita income between the richest and poorest countries is 25 percentage points larger than it would be without climate change. 39 IV. The response of the human rights community 16. Although climate change has been on the human rights agenda for well over a decade, it remains a marginal concern. Despite a flurry of reports and statements, it is generally one on a long laundry list of issues. Despite the extraordinarily short time period available in which to avoid catastrophic human rights consequences, it remains an optional add-on or niche issue and most international rights organizations have not devoted urgent attention to it or made it an integral part of their mainstream work. Human Rights Council 17. The Council has adopted resolutions on climate change regularly since 2008, including those establishing and extending the special procedures mandate on human rights and the environment.40 18. The most recent comprehensive example is resolution 38/4 (5 July 2018) on human rights and climate change, in which the Council takes particular account of women’s rights. Its operative provisions offer a good indication of the current state of the art. First, it acknowledges the “urgent importance of continuing to address … the adverse consequences of climate change”. However, there is nothing to differentiate the urgency of action in this case from the comparable urgency noted regarding various other issues on the agenda. The Council gives no other indication that the matter is a true priority. Second, the resolution expresses particular concern for the negative impacts “particularly in developing countries and for the people whose situation is most vulnerable to climate change”. While States are called upon to provide international cooperation and assistance to developing countries, the issue of differentiated responsibilities is entirely avoided, and people living in poverty are noticeably invisible, despite being the prime victims in practice. 19. More generally, the resolution proceeds as if the challenge is to manage the negative consequences of climate change for particular groups, rather than recognizing that the enjoyment of all human rights by vast numbers of people is gravely threatened. Those threatened by climate change do not divide up neatly into categories such as developing/developed nations or men/women. A much broader framework is required. Finally, there is no recognition of the need for the deep social and economic transformation, which almost all observers agree is urgent if climate catastrophe is to be averted. The actions prescribed by the Council are entirely inadequate and reflect a deep denial of the real gravity of the situation. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 20. Within the United Nations system, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has prepared reports on climate change in general, on its relationship to the right to health, to the rights of the child, to migration, and to the rights of women. 41 38 39 40 41 See Oxfam, “World’s richest 10% produce half of carbon emissions while poorest 3.5 billion account for just a tenth”, 2 December, 2015. Noah Diffenbaugh and Marshall Burke, “Global warming has increased global economic inequality”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 116, No. 20 (May 2019). For a list of resolutions adopted, updated through 2016, see www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/HRAndClimateChange/Pages/HRCAction.aspx. See A/HRC/10/61, A/HRC/32/23, A/HRC/35/13, A/HRC/37/35 and A/HRC/41/26 respectively. 5