During this year's 16th UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16) and the 29th UN Climate Conference (COP29), world leaders drew attention to the critical need to prioritise and address human rights and environmental risks of climate and biodiversity goals are to be truly successful.
The effects of climate change and biodiversity loss have a negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights and pose a threat to vulnerable communities and businesses. Understanding the link between human rights, climate change and biodiversity is becoming increasingly important for conducting business responsibly. The realisation of human rights - including the right to culture, life, health, food, adequate standard of living, housing, property, and the right to water - depends on healthy habitats and ecosystems.
At COP16 and COP29, business leaders have increasingly committed to mitigating the effects of climate change, mitigating environmental risks and protecting biodiversity by making them critical components of their ESG strategies. However, understanding the nexus between environment, climate change and human rights is an area where more widespread business practice is currently lacking (UNEP.org)
Companies need to consider the links between environment and human rights to comply with emerging legislation (such as the EUDR, CSDDD and CSRD) and normative standards such as the UN Guiding Principles and the OECD Guidelines for Responsible Business.
The knowledge gap for businesses
According to the 2023 Nature Benchmark, most companies do not yet understand how business, the environment and human rights are intertwined. Nor do they understand how their operations and supply chains depend on, and negatively impact, biodiversity and contribute to climate change. As a result, companies are at risk of potentially causing, contributing to, or being directly linked to, adverse human rights impact through their operations.
Businesses not only need to understand the impacts of their operations and supply chains on climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem services. But they also need to be aware that, as they transition to a low-carbon and nature-positive economy, they are also exposed to negative impacts on human rights, as their actions could exacerbate inequalities where climate policies and strategies are implemented.
Corporate initiatives to reduce plastic pollution and waste management without a human rights approach could increase the vulnerability of waste pickers. The livelihoods and right to an adequate standard of living of workers and communities may be negatively affected when a company makes changes to its operations to conserve biodiversity, such as using regenerative agriculture or switching to low-carbon technologies in its supply chains.
Amazon indigenous communities have alerted on how nature-based solutions by companies have restricted the use of land and forests by communities, jeopardising their subsistence economies in exchange for low wages or unstable benefits. (The Guardian, 2023)
Failure to consider the social and human rights implications of these initiatives can result in maladaptive climate actions which can expose companies to legal, reputational and operational risks.
Without meaningful engagement and commitment to respect human rights including the right to free, prior and informed consent, a company's climate and biodiversity conservation efforts may adversely affect the rights of local communities and workers.
What can you do?
Companies should identify and address human rights impacts across their business activities and business relationships – including those that result from involvement in climate change and biodiversity conservation, or actions to transition to a nature-positive economy.
First, companies can build on the human rights due diligence systems they already have in place to first integrate an environmental lens into the impact assessment, management and remediation mechanisms. They also need to ensure that the due diligence systems are fit for purposes to address climate and biodiversity-related human rights impacts.
Second, companies can enhance their efforts in identifying, understanding and addressing the implications of human rights & environment in their transition strategies and measures to conserve biodiversity and mitigate climate change.
Companies should use human rights and environmental due diligence to help guide their actions for a just transition to low-carbon and nature-positive economy.
Companies should promote a holistic and cross-functional approach to managing the human rights and environmental risks of their climate initiatives by integrating different areas of the company and bringing together diverse functions of the business including sustainability, compliance and procurement .
