‘In October 2012 when the International Bar Association (IBA) held its annual meeting in Dublin, I was honoured to be invited to give the George Seward Memorial lecture. In that lecture, entitled ‘A New Justice Challenge for the IBA’, I discussed the human rights dimensions of climate change and introduced the concept of climate justice. I also made a bold proposal and challenged the IBA to develop a working group on climate justice to provide leadership in shaping the global response to climate change.

I was thrilled when the incoming IBA President Michael Reynolds responded positively to my challenge and the Taskforce on Climate Change Justice and Human Rights was born. With the publication of this report I have to say that the IBA has surpassed my expectations and delivered an excellent contribution to the understanding of climate justice and the role of human rights law in addressing the climate challenge.’

‘Based on its findings and recommendations, the IBA Task Force calls on world leaders, policy-makers, lawyers, legislators, advocates and scientists to take joint, bold action aimed at achieving climate change justice.

The Task Force recommendations are identified across short-, medium- and long-term timeframes for states, international organisations, domestic legislative, executive and judicial bodies, corporations, communities and individuals, and include legal measures; capacity building and transparency; and institutional measures.

Recommendation highlights:

• clarifying and vindicating rights connected with climate change justice under international and regional human rights law by leveraging and, where necessary, ‘greening’ existing rights, outlining a minimum core of rights and duties relevant to climate justice, and recognising free-standing environmental rights;
• creating an IBA working group to develop a Model Statute on Legal Remedies for Climate Change, drawing on the success of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration;
• increasing international recognition of corporate responsibility for human rights harms stemming from climate change;
• seizing opportunities to accommodate states’ ‘pro-climate’ policies within WTO law, and actively recognising and promoting climate change and environmental objectives within the WTO;
• enhancing the UNFCCC process to develop dispute resolution mechanisms for human rights protections;
• using the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process to highlight climate justice concerns for developing countries before a broad audience; and
• creating an IBA Working Group on the Legal Aspects of Adaptation to develop effective and practical solutions for global climate change adaptation problems, including migration, food security and technology transfer.’

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‘Global climate change is a defining challenge of our time. Dramatic alterations to the planet’s climate system are already affecting the world’s inhabitants and its natural environment. In recent years, a number of countries have experienced the hottest temperatures since records began. In summer 2014, record or near-record temperatures were recorded throughout Central and Eastern Europe, North Africa, and South and East Asia. An unprecedented heat wave struck Russia and parts of Europe in May. Japan and Hong Kong each witnessed their hottest ever summers, while Canada and New York suffered exceptionally freezing winters. The US, Canada and Mexico are currently undergoing the worst droughts on record. The single largest storm ever to make landfall in recorded history, Typhoon Haiyan, devastated the Philippines in late 2013. These events, their causes and consequences, raise questions of justice and human rights. Climate change affects everyone, but it disproportionately strikes those who have contributed least to it and who are also, for a variety of reasons, least well-placed to respond.

By adopting a justice- and human rights-centred approach, the IBA intends to shift the focus of much-needed reform from purely economic and scientific considerations to the human rights and equity consequences of climate change. In doing so, the IBA hopes to advance equity and justice, listening to the human rights concerns of the communities most vulnerable to climate change.’

‘The justice issues arising from climate change can only be understood against the background of three decades of accumulated climate science, which extends to the physical origins of climate change and its impact on the natural world, individuals, communities and states. This Chapter explains the current and potential wide-ranging physical effects of climate change and the resulting impact on human rights. It then explains the structure of the international climate change regime under the UNFCCC, including how this framework incorporates the scientific findings of the IPCC. It is only at this point that we can then understand the particular justice issues resulting from climate change, and particularly the important justice implications for mitigation and adaptation to climate change.’

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‘The Task Force acknowledges with deep gratitude the contribution of Dr Stephen J Humphreys, Associate Professor of International Law, London School of Economics who, as Task Force Academic Advisor, provided invaluable advice and input at all stages. His expert knowledge of this fast moving topic and his awareness of specialised research by other experts greatly benefited the Report's currency and completeness.

The Task Force offers its profuse thanks to lawyers Nwamaka Genevieve Ejebe and Nicola Leslie of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, current Secretaries to the Task Force, and Carolina Henriquez-Schmidt, former Secretary, for their dedication in producing this Report.

The Task Force would also like to thank Debevoise & Plimpton LLP for making pro bono arrangements for these lawyers to devote their professional time and talents to this project, as well as the time of Associates who assisted in researching and drafting this Report: James Amler; Morgan Davis; Bernardo Becker Fontana; Christopher Ford; Corina Gugler; Jing Kang; Noelle Lyle; Ciara Murphy; Angus Ni; and Peter Ross. The Task Force also thanks the following for their assistance in reviewing, commenting on, or drafting contributions to sections of the Report: Pablo Alliani (Alliani & Bruzzon, Buenos Aires); Lourdes Breuer (Berkemeyer, Asunción); Lina Pimentel Garcia (Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr e Quiroga Advogados, São Paulo); Michael B Gerrard (Director, Centre for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School, New York); Sarah Grimmer (Senior Legal Counsel, Permanent Court of Arbitration. The Hague); Sébastien Jodoin (Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven); Sarah Kieran (Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice); Els Reynaers Kini (MV Kini, Mumbai); John H Knox (United Nations Independent Expert on Human Rights and the Environment); Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice; Dr Constance McDermott (University of Oxford Environmental Change Institute, Oxford); Professor Emeritus Shinya Murase (Chair, International Law Association Committee on Legal Principles Relating to Climate Change); Angeles Murgier (Brons & Salas Abogados, Buenos Aires); Patricia Nuñez (Nuñez, Muñoz, Verdugo, Santiago); Joost Pauwelyn (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies); Lavanya Rajamani (Rapporteur, International Law Association Committee on Legal Principles Relating to Climate Change); Ian Sampson (Shepstone & Wylie, Durban); Associate Professor Sara Seck (University of Western Ontario, Ontario); Tara Shine (Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice); Henry Shue (University of Oxford, Oxford); Allison Silverman (Centre for International Environmental Law, Washington DC); and José Antonio Urrutia (Urrutia & Cia, Santiago).

The Task Force is grateful to lawyer Yuriko Kanematsu, of the Tokyo law firm Momo-o, Matsuo and Namba, for her valuable contribution in supervising the translation of the Report’s Executive Summary into Japanese.'

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