16 January 2025. The Human Rights Council’s Resolution 56/8 requested the Secretary General to prepare and submit to the sixtieth session of the Council a synthesis report on opportunities, best practices, actionable solutions, challenges and barriers relevant to a just transition and the full realisation of human rights for all people.
FIDH contributed to the call for inputs released by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, addressed to non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders to feed into the content of the Secretary General’s report.
It is FIDH’s belief that "just transition" is a crucial concept referring to a host of different and contextual means for states to move away from a fossil fuel-dependent economy and address the challenges posed by climate change while simultaneously preventing the negative impacts such actions have on human rights, justice, equality, and the environment.
Just transition pathways can only be such if fully respectful of human rights and mindful of systemic power imbalances and historical and structural discrimination and injustices. With that in mind, FIDH’s submission offered case studies and analysis of key issues such as:
– challenges to a just transition concerning continued fossil fuel extraction and "green transition" activities without human rights safeguards;
– legislative developments to promote the enjoyment of human rights in the context of just transition, with a focus on business human rights responsibility and the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment;
– impacts on marginalised groups and environmental human rights defenders;
– a human rights economy as a systemic transformation required to achieve and fund a real just transition.
FIDH also co-signed a joint position by the Human Rights & Climate Change Working Group, highlighting the role of the international human rights framework in guiding the objectives, outcomes, and decision-making processes necessary to deliver a just transition.