Pillar 1: The State’s obligations to protect human rights

The key recommendations for States are: 

  • Ensure protection against climate change-related human rights abuses by business enterprises.
  • Encourage business enterprises to respect human rights in the context of climate change.
  • Encourage state-owned enterprises, and all other companies, to conduct due diligence to investigate their impact on nature and the climate and to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and impacts on climate change.
  • Ensure policy coherence. 
Задължения на държавата да защитава правата на човека

Pillar 2: Corporate responsibility to respect human rights.

    • Business enterprise should respect human rights in the context of climate change by taking proactive measures to identify, prevent, mitigate, and address their negative impacts, including those arising from climate change.
    • Business enterprise should ensure compliance with local legislation, which includes environmental laws, as well as with internationally accepted human rights and climate protection instruments.
    • Business enterprise must conduct human rights due diligence to prevent and reduce their negative human rights impacts associated with climate change.

    In relation to climate, this includes: 

    • Regular assessment of their environmental and climate impacts and the risk of negative human rights impacts. Impact assessment should include marginalised groups as well as rights holders whose rights may be violated. 
    • Business enterprise must take the necessary measures to stop and prevent any harm to human rights resulting from climate change, in all areas of their operations and supply chains.
    • Business enterprise must use their influence on companies with which they have business relationships and encourage them to prevent or reduce their harmful human rights impacts related to climate change.
    • To this end, business enterprise should regularly:
    • Identify and assess any actual or potential negative human rights impacts. 
    • Apply the findings and take adequate measures to prevent and reduce their human rights impacts. 
    • Monitor the effectiveness of the measures taken.
    • Communicate publicly how they are addressing their human rights impacts.
    • Business enterprise must ensure consistency of their policies across all areas of their operations. 

Pillar 3: Ensure effective protection

Compensation process for those who are affected by business activities or decisions related to climate change.

States:

  • States should take necessary measures to provide access to effective protection from climate change-related human rights harms. This includes the provision of effective legal and non-legal mechanisms  such as judicial redress on environmental issues, national human rights institutions, and other non-State related grievance mechanisms.

Business:

  • Business enterprise should create and participate in internal grievance mechanisms that address the complaints and concerns of people affected by climate and environmental issues. Business enterprise should participate in good faith in deliberations before judicial and non-judicial institutions that support accountability for climate harm. 
  • Where business enterprises have contributed to negative impacts on climate change (e.g. large corporations involved in electricity and heat generation, transport, industrial agriculture or other high-emitting sectors), each such business must provide compensation proportionate to its share of the negative impact. 

All those wishing to make use of the complaints and grievance mechanisms should be able to do so without fear of retaliation.