COP28 and the impact of climate change on human rights
Over the last 200 years human activities have caused global warming, resulting in increasingly frequent extreme weather events in every region of the world. Apart from the devastating impact climate change has on the environment, it is also an imminent threat to the human species. Even though states often do not agree on the character or urgency of measures against climate change, nearly all acknowledge that actions must be taken to not further it and its catastrophic impact. During the COP conferences, the parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) come together to discuss which of these actions must be taken collectively.
The COP28 Climate Summit was held from November 30 until 13th of December 2023 in Dubai, in the framework of the UNFCCC. The multilateral treaty entered into force in 1994 and has been ratified by 198 countries, making it nearly universal. Back then, the parties agreed on stabilizing greenhouse gas concentrations, to prevent dangerous human induced interference with the climate system.
The COP21 in 2015 led to the adoption of the Paris Agreement, in which 196 parties agreed on the goal of holding the increase of the global average temperature well below 2°C, pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5°C, above pre-industrial levels. This agreement, which is an extension of the UNFCCC, legally binds the ratifying parties as an international treaty.
However, despite these aims and their binding character, states have largely failed to meet their climate goals. Meanwhile, temperatures and sea-levels are rising. This climate crisis is also a human rights crisis, as the rising temperatures and sea levels cause droughts, floods and other environmental catastrophes that aggravate already existing social and economic inequalities. Members of marginalized communities, whose governments already do not protect them sufficiently, such as people of colour, people with low income or migrant workers are even more vulnerable to extreme weather events. They have a greater chance of dying, increased poverty or loss of resources, and are more often left behind in the case of such extreme events. Moreover, this increases the risk of conflicts and displacement. According to Human Rights Watch 3.5 billion people worldwide are already living under circumstances making them highly vulnerable to climate change. As temperatures are rising at a record level, NGOs as well as states have demanded that the participating parties must agree and commit to not further the current climatic development by authorizing new fossil fuel projects.
The UN expected COP28 to be “a turning point, where countries not only agree ‘WHAT’ stronger climate actions will be taken, but show ‘HOW’ to deliver them”. In the final document the parties jointly expressed their concern over 2023 being the warmest year on record and emphasized the need for urgent action (I.5). The represented Island states, which are threatened in their existence by climate change, challenged the idea that the agreed-on measures can be qualified as such urgent actions. Their lead delegate criticized that the COP28 Climate action plan had a “litany of loopholes” and that “the course correction that is needed has not been secured”. Even though the text calls on parties to accelerate efforts towards the phase-down of unabated coal power (II.A.28.(b)), it does not call for the largely demanded total phase out of fossil fuels.
Furthermore, the text recognizes that transitional fuels can play a role in facilitating the energy transition (II.A.29.). This legitimizes the burning of gas, as it is less polluting than coal even though it may have even worse environmental effects in total. Nonetheless, there are also positive aspects about COP28 worth mentioning, as 130 national governments pledged “to work together to triple the world’s installed renewable energy generation capacity to at least 11,000 GW by 2030 and to collectively double the global average annual rate of energy efficiency improvements (…)”.
UN Climate Change Executive Secretary Simon Stiell ended the conference rather positively, assessing in his closing address that “whilst we didn’t turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai, this outcome is the beginning of the end”. Following the emphasis that “now all governments and businesses need to turn these pledges into real-economy outcomes, without delay.” It is without question that in practice this will be a lot more difficult, especially as many of the participating countries’ wealth is currently largely based on the fossil fuel industry.
As ACHRS we urge states to take immediate action against climate change not only to protect our earth but also the rights and dignity of the people living on it.
