UNEP-OHCHR Environmental Rights Bulletin The Just Transition

Labour Rights and Social Dialogue are at the Core of a Just Transition

by Bert De Wel, Global Climate Policy Coordinator, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)

Providing for a just transition is crucial for the global labour movement to deal with the climate emergency we are facing. Workers and their unions are calling on governments to deliver climate protection and prosperity. Promises on quality green jobs need to be kept. As finance and investments fail to materialise at scale and new jobs often lack decent work standards, right-wing groups are instrumentalising the climate crisis to drive polarisation and social tension. In many countries climate policies are being scaled back. The result is an "unjust" and fragmented transition that is leaving workers and vulnerable groups unprotected and unprepared for a runaway climate crisis, especially in the Global South. A truly labour-focused just transition, grounded in the protection of fundamental labour rights and through the organisation of social dialogue, needs to provide an answer.

The role of workers and their organisations has been recognised in the climate negotiations, especially since the Paris Agreement in 2016 that has “the imperative of a just transition for the workforce” in its preamble. In the same year, the International Labour Organisation adopted the Guidelines for a Just Transition which were confirmed at the International Labour Conference in 2023. A major step forward was taken at the UN Climate Conference COP28 with the establishment of a Just Transition Work Programme. For the first time ever in the multilateral climate negotiations there was a recognition of the importance of labour rights.

The climate crisis puts to the front the need to engage with workers and their organisations as actors, not just as victims to be taken care of. Engaging with workers and their organisations will lead to better policies; better in terms of considering appropriately the impact on workers but also regarding the distributional impacts of the climate crisis and climate policies. There is widespread consensus that climate policies need to guarantee and contribute to social justice to have impact and support in societies. A just transition provides the toolbox to contribute to social justice.

The respect, promotion and implementation of the ILO’s Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work are at the heart of a just transition. Two of the five categories of labour standards are directly relevant for climate policies:

• freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining,
• a safe and healthy working environment.

All 184 ILO Members States have an obligation to respect, to promote and to realise the principles concerning the fundamental rights. Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining are prerequisites for any form of social dialogue. Workers need the right to organise collectively in a trade union to defend their interests. Social dialogue structures at the company, sector and national level must provide a space to negotiate with employers (bipartite) and with the government (tripartite), including on climate and transition policies. The relevance of occupational health and safety in a climate context has become more than obvious with dramatically increasing heat stress and other climate-related impacts for workers. It also illustrates the importance of just transition policies and measures for all workers and their families affected by the climate crisis.

The preparation at the national level of climate plans or Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) represent a critical entry point for ensuring that climate action strategies account for labour impacts and support labour rights, decent work, and social justice. They provide a pathway for advocating for just transition principles, which include social dialogue, employment guarantees, and social protection measures essential for reducing the socioeconomic impacts of climate change. For example, in Brazil trade unions have played a critical role in the drafting of the latest NDC, engaging closely with the government to ensure meaningful and effective social dialogue at every step of the policy process. By linking climate commitments to eradicating poverty, fighting hunger, and reducing inequalities, Brazil’s approach underscores the need for a just transition. In other countries, such as Nigeria, unions have had to fight much harder to get a seat at the table but finally got listened to.

Social dialogue and collective bargaining are key tools for promoting resilience and adaptation in productive sectors and companies, as well as for ensuring a fair transition for workers, i.e. anticipating changes and their effects. An important example of this approach was done in the automotive company, SEAT, in Spain. It illustrates how proactive social dialogue (anticipatory participation), where workers are informed and involved at an early stage, can benefit and contribute to better results. By involving workers in the restructuring process, their ideas and perspectives can be integrated while eliminating fears and scepticism about the imminent change processes, achieving a real and effective transition.

In many countries however, the conditions are not present to have effective social dialogue processes. In fact, the ITUC has documented that the protection of fundamental labour rights is going backwards instead of improving. The ITUC’s Global Rights Index 2025 offers an important status report on the worldwide struggle to defend and exercise core elements of a functioning democracy—the fundamental rights and freedoms of working people and trade unions. As the report attests, there are clear signs that governments and corporations are accelerating their efforts to trample on these basic rights. The protection of these rights are the essence of democracy and the rule of law. We need the respect of rights and democracy to be able to implement effective climate policies that protect workers and communities.

A Feminist Lens on Just Transition: Centering Care, and Justice

by Mwanahamisi Singano, Director of Policy Women’s Environment & Development Organisation

As the world races to decarbonise and adapt to climate change, the concept of a “just transition” has become a rallying cry across climate policy and activism. Rooted in the struggles of labour unions, the idea was originally about protecting workers and communities affected by the shift away from fossil fuels. Today, it has expanded into a broader demand: ensuring that the move to a low-carbon economy does not deepen existing inequalities but instead creates more just, resilient, and inclusive societies.

Why Feminism Matters for Just Transition

Feminism, especially African Feminism teaches us that challenging patriarchy effectively also requires confronting the other systems of oppression and exploitation that sustain it. This is why feminist voices in the climate justice space have long called for #FeministSystemChange as part of the broader struggle for #FeministClimateJustice.

A feminist analysis makes it clear that today’s intersecting crises: climate emergency, biodiversity loss, escalating disasters, deepening inequalities, gender injustices, authoritarianism, occupation, and more are not isolated problems. They are deeply rooted in the historical and ongoing legacies of slavery, colonisation, racial supremacy, and the relentless exploitation of nature, people, and women’s bodies.

For this reason, a just transition cannot simply mean switching off dirty energy in favour of clean alternatives while leaving underlying injustices untouched and human rights abused. It cannot mean maintaining inhumane working conditions, concentrating energy monopolies in the hands of a few corporations generating gigantic profits, or sourcing critical minerals through exploitative deals that exchange resources for military equipment - fueling wars, displacement, and land grabs. That is not a just transition, it is continuity of exploitation with a green name.

A feminist just transition recognises that communities in the Global South are not naturally vulnerable; they are structurally made vulnerable. Their access to their own resources is systematically restricted, their decision-making power in both local and global arenas deliberately stripped, and their public and social services starved of investment due to crushing debt burdens.

Making a Case For Care Work

Mainstream just transition narratives often emphasise reskilling and creating green jobs in renewable energy, construction, or technology. While these are important, they represent only a fraction of the labour needed for a sustainable and equitable present and the future. Who cares for the sick during heat waves? Who rebuilds social networks after floods? Who ensures communities have access to food and water during prolonged droughts? These are feminised forms of labour, usually unpaid or underpaid, yet they are vital for survival especially in a warming world.

Feminist economics urges us to broaden our understanding of “work” to include the labour of care, community, and ecological stewardship because exploitation of women’s unpaid and underpaid labour has long been a hidden subsidy propping up both the fossil-fuel economy and the myth of limitless economic growth. Thus, a just transition would invest not only in solar panels and wind turbines but also in social infrastructure including healthcare, childcare, education, and community-based disaster risk reduction. These are the systems that hold societies together during crises and build resilience in the face of escalating climate shocks.

Tackling Structural Injustices

A just transition is meaningless if it ignores the global structures that perpetuate inequality. The political economy of climate finance is a stark example. Small Island Developing States, for example, contribute the least to greenhouse gas emissions yet face the greatest climate burdens and often take on debt to finance adaptation and mitigation. This debt trap reinforces dependency and undermines sovereignty, leaving little room for investment in public services or community resilience.

From a feminist perspective, this is not only unjust but also a continuation of colonial patterns of extraction and control. A just transition must therefore challenge the structural injustices embedded in global trade, finance, and governance. It must call for climate finance that is accessible, grant-based, and responsive to the needs of grassroots communities, especially women and marginalised groups.

Centering Care for Ecosystems

The language of transition often emphasises the speed and scale of decarbonisation, yet limiting focus to greenhouse gas emissions alone leaves out a crucial piece of the puzzle. Care for ecosystems, for water, for soil health, for biodiversity is essential as, without this, transition risks becoming another extractive project depleting planetary boundaries.

In practice, this means rejecting false solutions that externalise harm, such as large-scale carbon offset schemes that, in the process of sequestering carbon, dispossess Indigenous and rural communities in the Global South. Too often, these projects reproduce colonial patterns of land grabs and resource theft, leaving behind fractured ecosystems and displaced peoples.

A just transition should prioritise locally led, feminist-informed solutions, such as agroecology, community-driven renewable energy, and water commons management that do more than mitigate climate impacts. They empower communities as agents of change rather than passive recipients of aid, creating dignified and meaningful jobs and redistributing resources equitably. Crucially, these solutions embody the principles of reparative justice. They recognise that power and resources must be returned to the communities from whom they were taken.

Building Solidarity for Systemic Change

A just transition demands deep solidarity across movements: labour, climate justice, women’s rights, Indigenous rights, disability justice, and youth movements, united to confront the intersecting crises of inequality, ecological breakdown, and authoritarian governance.

At the global level, this transition requires adequate, accessible, and grant-based funding alongside a multilateral governance structure “mechanism” that can serve as a hub for assisting countries and communities navigating the complexities of a just transition. Such a structure must facilitate genuine international cooperation rooted in equity and accountability.

For many countries in the “Global South”, international cooperation is not optional, it is critical. Climate impacts are escalating, debt burdens are suffocating public budgets, and authoritarian regimes frequently silence dissent and restrict civic space. Without global cooperation, these nations are left to bear the costs of a crisis they did not create.

In conclusion, a truly feminist transition is not only about energy systems but about the kind of societies we want to build. Transition should not replicate old hierarchies under new green labels but rather seize the moment to build economies and communities rooted in care, equity, and justice. Above all, it must ensure that human rights are not only protected but actively advanced, so that the transition is not only green, but also just, inclusive, and liberatory.

From Energy Access to Energy Sovereignty Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Vision for a Just Transition

by Joan Carling, Executive Director, Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI)

As the world moves toward a low-carbon future to address climate change, the concept of a "just transition" has become a rallying call to ensure that no one is left behind in the global shift to renewable energy. For Indigenous Peoples, this transition presents serious risks and opportunities. If done right, it can be a pathway to justice, sustainability, and self-determination. But if business-as-usual continues—where profit and control override rights, participation and sustainability—the energy transition will merely reproduce old patterns of dispossession, marginalisation and conflicts.

In response to these concerns, Indigenous leaders and organisations from across the globe crafted the Indigenous Peoples’ Declaration on Just Transition during the Indigenous Peoples Conference on Just Transition co-organised by the Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI), and held in New York in April 2023. This declaration lays out a powerful vision, in which Indigenous Peoples are not simply beneficiaries of clean energy but are rights-holders, partners, and leaders in shaping the future of energy and sustainable development.

At the heart of our vision is the recognition that true justice in transition cannot exist without the full respect and protection of Indigenous Peoples’ rights to lands, territories, and resources, as enshrined in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Our right to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) must be upheld at every stage of energy planning and development. Too often, renewable energy projects—like wind farms or hydropower—have been built on Indigenous lands without consent, causing displacement, hunger, destruction of livelihoods, ecological harm, and social conflict. This is not a just transition. It is a new form of green colonialism.

The 2024 Report on Resourcing the Energy Transition by the UN Secretary-General acknowledges this, emphasising that the transition to net-zero must be grounded in human rights and must respect the rights and roles of Indigenous Peoples, who have long been stewards of nature and biodiversity. The report further calls for meaningful participation in decision-making processes and the design of policies that affect them. This recognition by the UN is an important step forward, but it must be matched by concrete action and accountability at national and local levels.

A major concern today is the global push for critical or transition minerals—including lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper—with at least 54 % found in Indigenous territories or nearby it. These minerals are labeled “essential” for the energy transition, but the mining often comes with adverse impacts. From lithium extraction in South America to cobalt mining in Africa, and nickel mining in Asia, Indigenous Peoples are once again facing land grabs, violence and attacks on Indigenous Peoples’ rights and environment defenders as well as destruction of biodiversity, pollution and depletion of water sources—this time in the name of climate action.

We must urgently reassess whether such large-scale mining is even necessary. New innovations in battery recycling, reduced mineral dependency, and alternative materials are advancing rapidly. A just transition should not default to intensified extractivism but instead embrace a people and nature-centered economy, reduce material use, and prioritise sustainability and equity. Indigenous communities should not bear the cost of solving a crisis we did not create.

We must stop pretending or accepting that renewable energy justifies the destruction of Indigenous territories. Real solutions do not come from extraction but from restoring ecosytems, upholding rights, and ensuring social equity and accountability.

For Indigenous communities, just transition means more than access to clean energy. It means energy sovereignty—the right to determine how energy is generated, distributed, and used in ways that align with our cultural values, traditional knowledge, and sustainable livelihoods. We envision a future where Indigenous Peoples are owners, developers, and managers of renewable energy systems that serve our communities and protect our ecosystems—not projects that merely extract minerals from our lands for corporate profit or set-up renewable energy projects for distant markets.

Our approach to transition is not only about replacing fossil fuels with solar panels or turbines. It is about transforming systems of power and decision-making. This includes:

• Equitable benefit-sharing mechanisms that ensure energy production is justified as a need for the people instead of for profit. It also support Indigenous Peoples' livelihoods, well-being, and appropriate infrastructures
• Sustainable use and conservation of natural resources, guided by Indigenous knowledge systems and resource governance that have conserved biodiversity for generations.
• Meaningful participation in national and international climate and energy policy processes, where our voices shape the direction of transition strategies, not as stakeholders but as rights-holders.

To realise a just transition, governments, businesses, and international institutions must move beyond token inclusion and shallow commitments. They must decolonise their approaches, invest directly in Indigenous-led solutions, and ensure that energy and climate finance is accessible to Indigenous communities—not tied to rigid bureaucratic systems that exclude us.

This is not only a moral imperative—it is a practical necessity. Studies show that when Indigenous Peoples govern their lands, outcomes for biodiversity, carbon storage, sustainable use of resources and community resilience improve. A truly just transition must therefore center Indigenous rights, leadership, and knowledge as essential.

The energy transition must be an opportunity to dismantle inequality, not reinforce it. For us as Indigenous Peoples, it is a chance to reclaim agency over our future, to ensure that development is rooted in justice, and to affirm our right to live with dignity on our lands—now and for generations to come.

A Just Transition for Whom? Centering Children and Future Generations

by Isabelle Kolebinov, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator, Child Rights International Network (CRIN)

In the face of the triple planetary crisis—climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution—there is an urgent need to accelerate the transition towards a low-carbon economy. There is no time to lose.

Children already face disproportionate risks from the effects of climate change and environmental degradation, largely driven by fossil fuel emissions. Their rights are violated daily by the consequences of this global crisis: increased exposure to pollution, water scarcity, extreme heat, sea level rises, droughts, and floods. The climate emergency is, by nature, an intergenerational crisis. The decisions made today will shape the future that today’s children and future generations will inherit. Yet, their needs and rights have rarely been given meaningful consideration in climate and environmental policymaking.

As the world accelerates efforts to confront the climate emergency, the concept of a just transition has become central to climate and environmental discourse. Rooted in labour and environmental justice movements, a just transition calls for a fair shift toward a sustainable, low-carbon economy that leaves no one behind. To be truly just, however, this transition must be firmly grounded in human rights, in particular children’s rights and the rights of future generations.

While many governments and industries are developing just transition strategies, few explicitly consider their impact on children. In some cases, efforts to transition to a low-carbon economy have already produced harmful outcomes. Human rights violations linked to the solar and wind sectors have been well-documented. The rapid expansion of these technologies and the extraction of so-called “transition minerals” such as cobalt and lithium have, in some regions, been linked to child labour, displacement of communities, and environmental destruction. Indigenous children are particularly at risk when projects threaten ancestral lands and ecosystems. A truly just transition must be informed by these mistakes of the past, ensuring that the shift to a low-carbon society does not repeat the patterns of exploitation and harm driven by the highest carbon-emitting sectors, such as (and especially) the fossil fuels sector.

This contradiction between intention and outcome reveals that even well-meaning climate action can reproduce or deepen injustices if it ignores the rights of the most vulnerable. A green transition that does not place children and their rights at its centre and fully accounts for the rights of future generations cannot be considered truly just.

A just transition for children and future generations requires more than just avoiding harm, however. It must also actively advance their rights and wellbeing. This means ensuring their meaningful participation in shaping transition policies, protecting them from harm such as child labour and displacement, and guaranteeing their access to essential services like education, healthcare, and social protections. Investing in these services is not only a fulfilment of children’s rights—it also strengthens the foundations of a just transition, helping to build fairer and stronger societies that are better prepared for the changes ahead.

Children are and will continue to be deeply affected by the economic and social shifts involved in the transition: from rising costs to job market changes and evolving patterns of production and consumption. In line with their right to be heard and to participate in decisions affecting them (as enshrined in Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) children should be engaged in policy development, planning, and monitoring of the transition. This is not only a legal obligation but a matter of justice and intergenerational equity.

A just transition demands a strong focus on equity—particularly for children from Indigenous, displaced, and other marginalised communities, as well as the establishment of national accountability and remedy mechanisms to monitor the transition, safeguarding their rights now and in the future. The right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment (recognised as a universal human right by the UN General Assembly in 2022 and as a children’s right in General Comment 26 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child) should serve as a guiding principle throughout any transition process.

Promising examples of children’s involvement in just transition are already emerging. In Aberdeen, Scotland, children co-created local just transition plans through school-based participatory processes, offering practical solutions rooted in their lived experience and vision for the future. Elsewhere, citizen assemblies on climate and just transition increasingly include children and youth, recognising their unique insights and stake in the outcomes. These various models show how children’s voices can - and must - shape decisions that impact their lives and the planet they will inherit. Such approaches should be replicated not only at national and local levels, but also in global spaces, including COP30, the Plastics Treaty negotiations, and the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-7).

Importantly, just transition strategies must not only include children today but also be developed with a long-term, intergenerational lens. The Maastricht Principles on the Human Rights of Future Generations (2023) affirm that present generations have duties to respect, protect, and fulfill the human rights of those yet to be born. These principles underscore that today’s decisions - on climate policy, energy systems, and resource use - must be guided by long-term thinking and intergenerational justice. In the context of just transition, this means avoiding short-term solutions that may reduce emissions but compromise the rights or wellbeing of future generations. Transition strategies must instead be grounded in sustainability, fairness, and legal accountability, ensuring that future generations inherit not only a livable planet, but a just and inclusive society.

Children and future generations are among those least responsible for the climate crisis, yet they are (and will be) among those most affected both by its consequences and by many of the responses to it. A truly just transition must protect their rights, amplify their voices, and secure their futures. There can be no just transition without climate justice, and no climate justice without realising the rights of children and of future generations. As governments, businesses, and international bodies shape the transition to a low-carbon future, they must act urgently and responsibly to ensure the process is fair, inclusive, and rights-based.

A truly just transition must go beyond decarbonisation: it must address inequality, elevate the voices of the youngest and those yet to be born, and uphold their right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. Only then will the transition be not only green, but just, for all generations.

Financing Obligations in the Transition to Sustainable Economies and Societies

by Damilola S. Olawuyi, Member, United Nations Working Group on Business and Human Rights; Professor and UNESCO Chair on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar

To address the climate emergency, while ensuring energy security, a number of countries, corporations and other actors worldwide have announced net zero plans and measures aimed at transitioning to cleaner energy sources by the year 2060 or earlier. While the urgency and need for a green and low carbon transition is clear, the pace and scale of implementation across the world remain challenging.

A key barrier is the huge financing gap facing the green transition agenda, especially in developing countries. For example, at the 29th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 29), the African Group of Negotiators on climate change called for US$1.3 trillion per annum to finance climate-related development across the continent, and to bridge current financing deficits that slow the pace of the energy transition in the continent. Yet, despite the solar, wind and renewable energy potential of the continent, only 1.5% of new global green investments are going to Africa, a significantly low figure for a continent that accounts for 85% of the global population without electricity. Previous studies indicate how, due to unclear legal frameworks on green investments, weak investment climate, and lack of supportive policies that attract private sector investment, many countries are simply unable to attract the sustained flow of private sector investments and technologies needed to drive the transition to sustainable economies and societies.

A second factor is the rising debt levels of many countries which limits the flow of finance needed for climate change. In the aftermath of the economic slowdown associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing conflicts and wars in key economic hubs, and the complex threats to multilateralism and trade cooperation, many countries are at increased risk of debt distress. Many low income countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America in many cases have to choose between servicing existing debts, or financing low carbon infrastructure development programs. The rising debt levels, and the constraining flow of green financing raise an urgent need for international solidarity and support for low-income countries with unsustainable debt levels to be able to achieve and finance the green transition. Sustainable Development Goal 17.4 specifically calls on developed countries to "assist developing countries in attaining long-term debt sustainability through coordinated policies aimed at fostering debt financing, debt relief and debt restructuring by 2030."

Accelerating solutions to green financing challenges will require international solidarity and support from developed countries, including consistent flows of technology, financial support and capacity development to developing countries, in line with the Paris Agreement. A mix of increased green financing, debt forgiveness, and other concessional lending initiatives that can help reduce the debt burden in low income countries, and to free up financing for the green transition are urgently required.

Furthermore, unlocking private sector financing will be crucial to bridging the current financing gaps. Considering the high level of capital required to design, construct and upgrade extant and future infrastructure to become climate-smart, low carbon and resilient, government, with its many responsibilities and already large levels of investment, cannot fund transition projects alone. Boosting private sector participation and investment will therefore be key to accelerating innovative green financing across the world. A starting point in this regard is for countries to undertake comprehensive assessments of legal and institutional barriers that weaken private sector participation in green financing and investment.

It is pertinent to put in place supportive commercial and investment laws that simplify the process of business formalisation, registration and participation in transition programs. In addition to legal reforms, it is crucial to provide financial incentives for entrepreneurs to unlock homegrown green solutions. Such incentives can be in the form of direct grants, concessional or low interest loans, investment tax credits or reversed taxes, or in the form of de-risking instruments including insurance, geared towards supporting the upfront capital investment needed to develop clean technology initiatives.

Finally, human rights safeguards must be at the heart of the design and implementation of such green finance frameworks to avoid exclusions and inequitable access to green financing. In line with the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Governments, development institutions, commercial banks and other stakeholders must carefully integrate human rights due diligence in green financing programs to ensure inclusive and rights-based implementation, particularly the rights of marginalised and disadvantaged groups, such as women, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, children and youth, and persons with disabilities. The Paris Agreement also emphasises that "Parties should, when taking action to address climate change, respect, promote and consider their respective obligations on human rights." Creating a level playing field for women, youth, Indigenous groups and other marginalised groups to access green financing opportunities and play active roles in green innovation, will be crucial to unlocking a just, inclusive and equitable transition that leaves no one behind.

Minamata COP6

The sixth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-6) will take place in Geneva from 3–7 November 2025, under the presidency of Osvaldo Álvarez (Chile). The Convention, which entered into force in 2017, addresses mercury as a persistent global pollutant. Building on outcomes from COP-5, Parties will seek to advance work on phaseout dates for mercury-added products, including certain batteries, switches, fluorescent lamps and cosmetics, as well as the phaseout of mercury as a catalyst in polyurethane production by 2025. COP-6 will also follow up on decisions concerning mercury waste thresholds, Secretariat support to Parties, and implementation of a gender action plan and knowledge management strategy.

UNFCCC COP30

The 2025 UN Climate Chane Conference (UNFCCC COP30) will take place in Belém, Brazil, from 10-21 November 2025, and will include the 30th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP30), the 20th meeting of the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 20), the seventh meeting of the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA7), as well as the 63rd sessions of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA63) and the Subsidiary Body for Implementation (SBI63). COP30 is expected to serve as a critical stocktaking moment for global climate action, including the delivery of ambitious nationally determined contributions.

8th Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention

The 8th Meeting of the Parties to the Aarhus Convention will take place in Geneva from 17-19 November, followed by the 5th session of the Meeting of the Parties on the Protocol to Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers from 20-21 November. The two sessions will feature a joint High-level Segment on 20 November 2025 where delegations will focus on the role of the Aarhus Convention and its Protocol in advancing public rights to tackle the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. The eighth session will provide a platform for Parties, Signatories, international organizations, civil society and other stakeholders to discuss achievements and challenges in effectively engaging the public in promoting environmental democracy, digital transformation, circular economy and sustainable development. A number of substantive decisions are expected to be adopted at the session that will guide the activities of the Convention in the next intersessional period for 2026-2029. General information on participation, registration, practical information, side-events, media, can be found here.

14th Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights

The 14th Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights will take place in Geneva from 24-26 November under the theme of “Accelerating action on business and human rights amidst crises and transformations”. Several issues related to the intersection of environment and human rights will be discussed, including a session on “Ensuring Human Rights in Latin America's Critical Minerals Extraction”, “Advancing the just transition during times of crises”, “From Exploitation to Empowerment: Indigenous Rights and Leadership, Business and Climate Action”, and “Strengthening accountability for environmental harm: pathways for transformative business practices”. Those wishing to attend the event can register via Indico.

UNEA-7

The seventh session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) will be held from 8–12 December 2025 at UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya under the theme “Advancing Sustainable Solutions for a Resilient Planet.” UNEA, the UN’s highest decision-making body on environmental matters with universal membership, will set the global environmental agenda and define policy responses to emerging challenges. As part of the Assembly, the Green Room will provide a dedicated space for Major Groups and Stakeholders to organise side events and capacity-building sessions aligned with the UNEA-7 theme. An official side event on “Advancing the Human Rights to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment through a Just Transition for Generations of Tomorrow”, organised by Slovenia, will take place on Human Rights Day, 10th December. More details can be tracked here.