Climate change and sustainability

Increasing global warming and the resulting climatic changes are threatening ecosystems worldwide and, as a result, people's health and lives. This is particularly evident during extreme weather events - heatwaves, storms, droughts and floods - which have increased in frequency and intensity all over the world in recent years. According to United Nations estimates, more than 150 million people could be forced to leave their homes by 2050 due to such effects.

States have a human rights obligation to protect their populations from the consequences of climate change. They must therefore take measures to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement of 2015. Industrialised countries such as Germany in particular, which have historically contributed the most to pollution and resource consumption, have a responsibility to minimise the far-reaching negative effects of climate change on human rights, including in other parts of the world. To this end, states are obliged to comply with human rights principles and standards when implementing their climate-related policy. Whether in the Global South or North: disadvantaged population groups are usually particularly defenceless against the effects of climate change and environmental changes and are most at risk of losing their livelihoods. The necessary social adaptation and transformation processes must be based on human rights.

The German Institute for Human Rights is committed to the implementation of the Paris Agreement, highlights the close links between human rights protection and climate policy, and makes corresponding recommendations on how Germany can strengthen human rights protection in its domestic and foreign climate-related policy. To this end, it advocates for the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, which the United Nations General Assembly recognised as a human right in 2022.

The Institute also draws up statements on the subject in cooperation with other National Human Rights Institutions.