The business and human rights dimension of climate change:
addressing access to remedy
COP 25 Side event

9 December 2019, 10.30 am – 12.00 pm
EU Pavilion (Room Brussels)

Concept note
Organisers
UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) andOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Background
Climate change and environmental degradation directly and indirectly interfere with the enjoyment of all
human rights, including the rights to life, housing, water and sanitation, food, health, development, and anadequate standard of living. Ensuring sustainable development for all requires effectively addressing climatechange through an internationally coordinated response based on common human rights and environmental
principles such as solidarity, transparency, participation, access to information, accountability, remedies, theprecautionary principle, equality, and equity.
The implementation of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, combinedwith the increasing engagement of the Human Rights Council, its special procedures mechanisms and thetreaty-bodies dealing with environmental issues present a unique opportunity for developing andimplementing ambitious public policies and business practices that integrate both human rights andenvironmental considerations at the national and international level.
All business enterprises have a responsibility to prevent and address negative impacts of their actions on theenvironment. It is widely accepted that the business responsibility to respect human rights and environmental
rights includes the responsibility to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for impacts related to climatechange, in line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines forMultinational Enterprises. Similarly, States should ensure that their own business activities, including activities
conducted in partnership with the private sector, contribute to mitigating climate change while respecting
human rights, and ensuring effective remedies for climate and human rights harms.
This session will explore what this responsibility means in practice for corporate due diligence as well as for theState duty to protect against human rights harms by businesses. An important tool to promote businessaccountability is access to remedy The discussion will address various judicial and non- judicial mechanisms
employed in recent years to hold corporations accountable for climate change- related human rights harms, e.g.,the RWE and Gloucester cases, the case brought before the Dutch National Contact Point, and the climate changeinquiry undertaken by the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines.

Objectives
This session aims to discuss:

1) the role of States in providing effective access to remedy to achieve a transition to a low/zero carbon

economy and ensuring that their own business-related activities address both human rights and climatechange impacts;2) recent efforts in using judicial and non-judicial mechanisms to promote corporate accountability forclimate change;3) how the use of these mechanisms has led to increased engagement by business and investors inaddressing climate change.

Speakers
Opening remarks:••

Ms Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Mr Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary General (video message)

Moderator:•Ms Cristina Tébar Less, Acting Head, OECD Centre for Responsible Business Conduct

Panellists:•••••

Ms. Elina Bardram, Head of the International Unit, DG CLIMA, European Commission
Mr. Roberto Cadiz, Commissioner, Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines
Mr. Dante Pesce, Member, UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
Mr. Pierre C. Rousseau, Senior Strategic Adviser for Sustainable Business, BNP Paribas
Mr. Bertram Zagema, Climate Justice Policy Advisor, OxFam