Ulysses Aoki | Codo Advisory Representative Director & Co-CEO
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Recommended prior reading: “How Essential are Just Transition and Social Equity to a Sustainable Future?“
Are you familiar with the “intersection of human rights and climate change? Rather than treating “human rights” and “climate change” as separate issues, this field focuses on the impacts of climate change on people, and how they respond to it. Much of the literature on this topic discusses climate change and human rights as separate issues to be addressed – two sides of the same coin where either one or the other must be considered – but we at Codo Advisory believe it is critical to jointly consider both aspects in development planning.
What is Climate Justice?
It is becoming increasingly clear that climate change is infringing on people’s rights. Society’s failure to act on climate change creates worsening conditions that directly harm people’s lives. While everyone is impacted to some degree, those in already vulnerable situations suffer the worst affects.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 250,000 lives will be lost due to climate change between 2030 and 2050. Beyond the loss of the right to life, Amnesty International highlights other human rights at risk due to climate change, including:
- The right to health, due to heatwaves, fires, food insecurity and diseases
- The right to housing, due to floods, wildfires and sea level rise
- The right to water and sanitation, due to climate change, impacting both the quality and quantity of available water resources, and sea level rise damaging sewage systems
In short, reducing the impacts of climate change also protects human rights.This concept is referred to as climate justice and sits at the heart of the intersection of human rights and climate change. Without pursuing climate justice, we cannot break the ongoing cycle of human rights violations linked to climate change. To implement climate justice effectively, another essential concept must be considered: implementing a Just Transition.
What is a Just Transition?
A Just Transition refers to the shift toward a sustainable economy that addresses climate change while ensuring no one is left behind. It is about aligning decarbonization efforts with social equity, so that the transition benefits all members of society.
While initiatives to move toward a decarbonized society are often described under the umbrella of “Green Transformation” (GX), this environmental shift is inherently accompanied by broader social change. This parallel process—aimed at achieving sustainable social systems—is known as Social Transformation, a framework that seeks to realize universal human development. A Just Transition, therefore, integrates both environmental and social dimensions, ensuring that the move toward sustainability is fair, inclusive, and equitable for all.
Here are some examples of challenges related to a just transition:
- The growing demand for EVs and batteries is driving a surge in cobalt mining, often linked to child labor and forced labor in upstream supply chains.
- Communities are being forcibly displaced to make way for large-scale renewable energy projects without proper consultation.
- Auto manufacturers shifting to EV production are laying off long-time employees involved in internal combustion engine (ICE) development without adequate support or notice.
(For more details on just transition, please refer to this article “How Essential are Just Transition and Social Equity to a Sustainable Future?“. )
Why Distinguish Between Climate Justice and Just Transition?
If these two concepts are so closely linked, why make a distinction between them?
The answer is simple: awareness and action are very different.
For example, a company may hear that they should implement a “Just Transition” plan. However without proper context, many companies are likely to think “this sounds like a lot, let’s just continue with what we’ve been doing”.. But in fact, implementing a just transition is a crucial part of achieving climate justice.
At the moment, this is not the approach being taken. Governments and companies are starting to take steps toward climate justice through decarbonization, but fail to consider and take action toward implementing a just transition. Climate action without proper social consideration fosters resentment and resistance toward the actions themselves, making continued progress increasingly difficult. It is necessary to jointly address these two concepts with clarity and context to present actual solutions addressing “climate change and human rights”.
Considering Solutions
Historically, climate change and human rights have been discussed as separate issues, essentially the “E” and “S” in ESG. But this siloed approach has often resulted in disconnected actions. For example, companies may conduct environmental due diligence or work on decarbonizing their value chains but fail to address the human impacts of those actions. Similarly, governments may announce net-zero goals without linking them to human rights policies or protections.
So, what can be done? Inspired by efforts from the Danish Institute for Human Rights—a leader in this field and companies like Air Liquide, which has published its own Just Transition policy, we have created the following table summarizing potential actions at the corporate, national, and regional levels. Please note that this is still an emerging field, and the list may not be exhaustive.
In this article, we discussed the importance of taking an integrated approach to the challenges facing “climate change and human rights. We now must consider what concrete actions each company and country can undertake. For now, the table above serves as a starting point.
At Codo Advisory, we assist companies in conducting human rights due diligence and developing integrated environmental and social transition plans. We also provide services recommending and assisting companies and industries in developing a “Corporate Policy on Fair Transition”.
References
- Climate change – World Health Organization
- Climate Change – Amnesty International
- Investors Urge ISSB to Develop Reporting Standard for Human Rights and Human Capital – ESG Today
- Climate change and human rights analytical framework – Danish Institute for Human Rights
- How Essential are Just Transition and Social Equity to a Sustainable Future? – Codo Advisory
Codo Advisory helping companies in Japan at all stages of their sustainability journey.