Climate change is no longer only a scientific or environmental concern. It has become a full-scale human rights crisis that threatens lives, livelihoods, and the future of entire nations, according to senior United Nations officials and leading climate scientists.
Earlier this year in Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council that the world is failing to take the steps needed to protect people from climate chaos, safeguard future generations, and manage natural resources in ways that respect human rights and the environment. A UN report concluded that global efforts remain far from sufficient.
This warning is echoed by Professor Joyeeta Gupta, co-chair of the Earth Commission and a United Nations high-level representative for science, technology, and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals. She has stressed that climate change must be understood not only as a climate emergency but also as a direct violation of human rights.
Climate change and who suffers most
Professor Gupta explained that the 1992 climate convention did not quantify human harm. When the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, governments agreed to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, later recognising 1.5 degrees Celsius as a safer target. However, she noted that for small island states, even this lower threshold was a compromise shaped by power imbalance, as warming beyond that level threatens their very survival.
Rising sea levels, saltwater intrusion, and increasingly intense storms place entire island nations at risk of disappearing. Scientific assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change later confirmed that limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius would significantly reduce damage compared to 2 degrees Celsius, although the risks would still be severe.
Professor Gupta’s research, published in Nature, argues that one degree Celsius should be considered the just boundary. Beyond that point, the impacts of climate change violate the rights of more than one percent of the global population, roughly 100 million people. She highlighted that the world crossed this threshold in 2017 and is likely to breach 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2030.
She also warned that promises to cool the planet later in the century ignore irreversible damage such as melting glaciers, collapsing ecosystems, and loss of life. Once Himalayan glaciers melt, she noted, they will not return, leaving permanent consequences for water security and human survival.
Climate justice, development, and inequality
Climate justice and development are deeply interconnected. Every basic human right, including access to water, food, housing, mobility, and electricity, depends on energy. Professor Gupta pointed out that it is neither mathematically nor ethically possible to meet the Sustainable Development Goals without changes in consumption patterns among wealthy populations.
Her research shows that meeting basic human needs has a substantial emissions footprint. Since the planet has already crossed safe climate limits, affluent societies must reduce emissions far more aggressively. This is necessary not only to protect the climate but also to create carbon space for poorer regions to realise their fundamental rights. Failure to do so, she emphasised, turns inequality into injustice.
Climate change and displacement
Displacement is one of the clearest manifestations of climate injustice, yet international law still does not recognise climate refugees. Professor Gupta described how climate impacts unfold in stages. Communities first attempt adaptation, such as shifting from water-intensive crops to drought-resistant varieties. When adaptation fails, people absorb losses in land, livelihoods, and security. When survival becomes impossible, displacement follows.
Most climate-related displacement currently occurs within countries or regions rather than across continents. Moving is costly, dangerous, and often unwanted. One of the main legal challenges is proving causation, as displacement can also be linked to poor governance or economic pressures.
Advances in attribution science are beginning to address this gap. New studies compare decades of data to demonstrate how climate change alters rainfall patterns, heat exposure, health outcomes, and extreme weather events. As this science develops, it may allow climate displacement to be recognised within international refugee law.
A fragmented legal system
Addressing climate harm through human rights law has been difficult due to the fragmented structure of international legal frameworks. Environmental treaties, human rights conventions, trade agreements, and investment regimes often operate separately, allowing states to compartmentalise responsibility. Countries may commit to climate agreements without being bound by human rights obligations or protect investors while overlooking environmental destruction.
Until recently, climate change was largely discussed in technical terms such as carbon dioxide concentrations, temperature targets, and emission pathways, without explicitly addressing the human impact. This has started to change following a landmark advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice. The court clarified that climate change cannot be assessed in isolation and that governments must consider climate obligations alongside human rights and environmental agreements.
This shift, Professor Gupta said, finally makes it clear that climate policy cannot be separated from its consequences for people.
Transboundary responsibility and accountability
Assigning responsibility for climate change is especially complex because its impacts cross national borders. Professor Gupta highlighted cases where individuals have sought justice beyond their home countries, such as a Peruvian farmer suing a German company for climate-related damages in a German court. While courts have acknowledged the right of foreign plaintiffs to bring such cases, proving a direct link between emissions and harm remains challenging.
Attribution science is increasingly helping to establish these links. The International Court of Justice has now affirmed that continued fossil fuel use may constitute an internationally wrongful act. States are responsible not only for their own emissions but also for regulating companies operating within their borders. Legal strategies are emerging worldwide, including corporate accountability laws in Europe and misrepresentation lawsuits in the United States.
Climate stability as a collective human right
Rather than framing climate protection as an individual entitlement, Professor Gupta advocates recognising climate stability as a collective human right. Stable climate systems underpin agriculture, water availability, supply chains, and daily life. Without them, societies cannot function.
Courts in several countries are already recognising that climate instability undermines existing human rights, even if climate itself is not yet formally codified as a standalone right. This view is increasingly reflected at the highest levels of the United Nations.
Political will and the path forward
Speaking again to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Volker Türk warned that climate change is already eroding fundamental rights, particularly for the most vulnerable populations. However, he also described climate action as an opportunity to drive progress through a just transition away from environmentally destructive systems.
Professor Gupta noted that repeated withdrawals by the United States from the Paris Agreement have weakened global trust, while a significant share of new fossil fuel expansion is driven by a small group of wealthy countries. She argued that market-driven, deregulated approaches cannot solve a collective crisis. Climate change, she said, is a public good problem that requires cooperation, strong institutions, and effective regulation.
Developing countries face a stark choice between waiting for climate finance while emissions rise or acting independently and seeking justice later. Waiting, she warned, risks severe human and environmental costs.
As the UN High Commissioner concluded, a just transition must leave no one behind. Failure to protect lives, health, jobs, and futures will only reproduce the very injustices the global community claims to oppose.
BABURAJAN KIZHAKEDATH
