Distributive Justice And Human Rights In Climate Policy: The Long Road To Paris

Abstract

The Paris Agreement, adopted by 196 countries, is the first global climate
change instrument to explicitly reference human rights as a guiding principle.
The treaty does not expound on the implications of climate change for human
rights but the fact that it calls on State Parties to respect human rights when
combating climate change shows a significant improvement in international
thinking and acceptance of the linkages between human rights and climate
change. Indeed, this is no mean feat. The journey to Paris has been a long and
arduous process, especially for the broad coalition of indigenous people,
gender, human rights, environmental and climate justice groups that worked
tirelessly to bring the issue to global focus. My goal in this article is to
explore the implications of a human rights clause in the Paris Agreement.
Does it carry any legal or political weight? Are State Parties likely to
operationalize it? In what ways can they enforce this part of the Agreement?
To answer these questions, this article traces the historical account of the
connections between human rights and climate change within the United
Nations system and examines issues of equity and distributive justice in
international climate change frameworks such as the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol,
and the Paris Agreement. The article expounds on opportunities for integrating
human rights-based approaches into national and international climate policy
and concludes on the need for further integration of both issues in future
research and treaty negotiations.