Briefing paper

CLIMATE JUSTICEIN GLOBAL
SUPPLY CHAINSA perspective for the private sector
October 2021

The content of this report is for informational purposes only andrepresents the opinion of the author. The findings and views
expressed in the report do not necessarily reflect the views of PMI.

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

CONTENTS
About this Briefing paper
2 Foreword from PMI

10 WHAT IS CLIMATE JUSTICE?

4 Foreword from Article One

12 Differential contributions to climate change

5 Introduction
6 Executive summary
9 The climate crisis

13 Differential impacts of climate change
13 Differential capacity to shape
climate action solutions
13 Differential future response capacity		

1
15 THE HUMAN RIGHTSDIMENSION OF
CLIMATE CHANGE

19 Groups vulnerable to climate injustice2
23 THE ROLE OF BUSINESSIN CLIMATE-RELATEDHUMAN RIGHTS IMPACTS

24 Climate-related human rights impacts
and the tobacco industry
28 PMI’s efforts to date
29 The importance of private sector leadership3

30 OPPORTUNITIES

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

FOREWORD FROM PMI
Philip Morris International (PMI)’s purpose is to lead a transformation in the
tobacco industry and create a smoke-free future by phasing out cigarettes.
We recognize that climate change is not only about impact on
the environment but also on people’s livelihoods. Building on
our 10-year experience of implementing programs especiallyin our agriculture supply chain, we have witnessed how climatechange has exacerbated human rights issues and, in particular,
affected the most vulnerable people around the world. The
climate crisis concretely impacts human population movement,
access to water, global health, agriculture productivity, and foodsecurity—and increases social inequalities

Anna Kletsidou
Head of Social Impact,
Philip Morris InternationalJens Rupp
Head of Environmental Sustainability,
Philip Morris International

Philip Morris International (PMI)’s purpose is to lead atransformation in the tobacco industry and create a smokefree future by phasing out cigarettes. Sustainability stands
at the core of PMI’s transformation and helps address someof the challenges resulting from this transition. Guided by asustainability materiality assessment, we integrate sustainability
within our business as an opportunity for innovation, growth,and long-term value creation, as well as a means to maximize
operational efficiency and resource allocation while minimizing
negative externalities.
At PMI, doing our part to address the climate crisis andrespecting human rights are two key priorities of oursustainability strategy. As PMI transforms to achieve its
purpose of delivering a smoke-free future, we are also cognizantof the environmental and social impacts our business operations
create. More concretely, we put in place ambitious energy usage
and carbon neutrality targets, while recognizing that thesetransitions need to be just and equitable and protect people’s
livelihoods. Our efforts to combat climate change are notlimited to working toward carbon neutrality in our operations
and across our entire value chain. We also work to adapt to
the impact of climate change and increase the resilience of ourbusiness and the communities where we operate
Sustainability challenges do not exist in a vacuum. They areoften linked to one another, and their interdependencies—
including the direction of causality and magnitude—must be
considered as we craft appropriate solutions. These solutions
can be mutually reinforcing. For example, sustainable supply
chain management can be a catalyst for progress on climate
protection or fair working conditions. As another example,
forest protection is key to climate stability and biodiversity
conservation and is instrumental to the socioeconomic
well-being of rural tobacco-farming communities.

In designing our strategies and programs, it is vital that we
accurately comprehend, analyze, and account for situations offorced compromise. We strive to minimize trade-offs, guided
by our sustainability materiality assessment. If appropriately
addressed, some trade-offs can also be a source of innovation,
as such compromises press us to develop plans for tackling
the tensions created. Embedding an integrated approach tosustainability within our business allows us to monitor andtackle multiple issues simultaneously, identifying effective
solutions that leverage on interdependencies to make progress.
Based on our experience, we recognize the importance ofidentifying synergies and integrating efforts to mitigate climatechange and human rights impacts throughout our businessactivities. To do so, we tasked Article One, our human rights
advisers, with preparing this briefing paper to understand better
where and how these key issues intersect. This understandingof the impact of climate change on human rights and theintersections are an essential step in developing coherent
and inclusive strategies.

“Doing our part toaddress the climate crisisand respecting human rights
are two key priorities ofour sustainability strategy.”

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

We recognize that everyone has a role to play and that weshould mitigate our impacts on the planet and people, especiallythose who are vulnerable and facing heightened human rights
risks due to climate change. We also know that we cannot createchange alone. We hope that this briefing paper can—in addition
to informing PMI’s approach to climate justice—also be of use tobusinesses around the world who face similar challenges.
We believe in the power of collective action, and we will work
to respond to this emerging issue.

We hope this paper can spark dialogue about an issue that is sopressing and help elevate the discussion, putting human rights
on par with climate change in terms of awareness, attention,and investment. As we continue to transform our company,
we welcome feedback on this paper as well as on our actions
toward addressing our environmental and social impacts andadvancing climate justice in our supply chain.
Anna Kletsidou & Jens Rupp

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

FOREWORD FROM ARTICLE ONE
Climate change is an existential threat to humanity
and among our most pressing human rights challenges.

Faris Natour
Principal, Article One

Dear reader,
Climate change is an existential threat and one of humanity’s mostpressing human rights challenges. Whether we are successful inavoiding the worst climate change impacts will depend in largepart on the extent to which the international community takes ahuman rights-based approach to mitigating and adapting to climatechange. The idea behind climate justice is that climate change
has disproportionate impacts on vulnerable and underprivileged
populations. Climate justice seeks to address the injustice thatthose who are least responsible for causing the problem of climatechange are also those most likely to suffer from it.
We believe that it is essential for business to play a crucial role insupporting efforts to advance climate justice. Under the United
Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights(UNGPs), while states have the duty to protect human rights,
companies have a responsibility to respect human rights by
avoiding causing, contributing or being linked to adverse humanrights impacts, remediating impacts that have occurred, andengaging with potentially affected stakeholders. This includes
human rights impacts that their carbon emissions contribute toas well as impacts related to mitigation and adaptation measures.
Finally, companies in all sectors can lead by example in integrating
human rights into their approach to climate change. We believe
they should advocate for human rights-based climate policies andregulations at the national and international level.

Many readers may wonder why we partnered with PMI, atobacco company, to write this paper on the topic of climate justice.
We have been working with PMI since 2018 to help guide thecompany’s human rights strategy and due diligence program.
Partnering with a tobacco company was not an easy decision for
us. We believe that the reduction of tobacco products’ health risks
and impacts are PMI’s most important priority as indicated by thehuman rights saliency mapping included in PMI’s 2020 Integrated
Report1. Implementing PMI’s commitment and progress toward
transitioning to a smoke-free future, to phase out cigarettes, andto move beyond nicotine products are essential first steps inaddressing these risks, and this commitment was essential forour decision to work with PMI.
We remain conscious of the need to end smoking and eliminate
cigarettes, and we know how much work remains to be done toachieve PMI’s vision. We also believe that PMI’s work to address its
other salient risks, such as those associated with its climate impacts,
is also a worthwhile and meaningful pursuit.
Working to advance climate justice will not address or make up forthe impacts of PMI’s products. But we aim for this paper to help
raise awareness, strengthen commitments, and drive meaningfulprogress in business taking a human rights-based approach toclimate change mitigation and adaptation, particularly in the
agricultural sector. And if it does, it will represent a critical step
forward for both human rights and climate change.
Faris Natour

It is our hope that this paper sparks learning, dialogue, andexchange of best practices among companies supporting efforts
toward climate justice. And we hope the paper stimulates
discussion and collaboration between business, states, and civilsociety on how companies can and should support human rightsbased climate approaches.

1 Human Rights Saliency Mapping, Integrated report 2020—Philip Morris International, p. 72

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

INTRODUCTION
This briefing paper was fundedby PMI and authored by Article
One, a specialized strategy andmanagement consultancy withexpertise in human rights, responsible
innovation, and social impact.

The paper explores how the climate crisis and human rights
relate to each other, and the role a company can play inaddressing the interconnected challenges they present.
The paper also identifies opportunities to bring the businessand human rights lens to climate impact mitigation efforts
and to leverage existing frameworks, with the ambition ofcreating improved synergies between the environmental
and social sustainability frameworks. To do so, the principal
sections of the paper are as follows:• A look at the climate crisis and a working definition of climate
justice for the private sector context;• An exploration of the human rights impacts of climate change
for the private sector context, including vulnerable groups
and a deep-dive on the tobacco value chain; and• Opportunities for private sector action to advance climate
justice.
This paper draws on the research and reporting of a numberof leading intergovernmental bodies, NGOs, academic
institutions, think tanks, media publications, and climate
activists. We at Article One would like to express our gratitude
to these organizations for their important work, as well as
those striving to advance climate justice and mitigate theeffects of climate change around the world.

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Climate change is a global, existential
threat. Since the industrial revolution,
human activity—largely, thecombustion of fossil fuels—has led
to dramatic increases in atmosphericgreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Higher emissions of GHGs have led to rising global temperatures.
Global warming is increasing the frequency and severity ofnatural disasters, causing extreme weather, fueling food andwater insecurity, collapsing ecosystem biodiversity, driving
rising sea levels, and leading to the prospect of economic
and social collapse. However, people across the world do notexperience the impacts of climate change equally or equitably.
Climate justice is a term pioneered by activists in the global
south that acknowledges that climate change has differing andunequitable impacts on vulnerable, underprivileged populationgroups. It seeks to address the injustice that those who areleast responsible for causing the problem of climate change
are also those most likely to suffer from its impacts. Systemic
disparities persisting in society today—including, but not limited
to those associated with wealth, race, ethnicity, gender, class,and generational gaps—influence the relationship people havewith the environment and can compound climate risks.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
notes that the primary asymmetries of climate change thatclimate justice seeks to address include the following:• Differential contributions to climate change: Highincome countries are responsible for the vast majorityof historical GHG emissions and current emissions.
While these countries have benefited economicallyand socially from these emissions, the negative impactsof climate change caused by these emissions are
disproportionately experienced by low-income countries.
• Differential impacts of climate change: The most
severe impacts of climate change tend to fall on thoseleast responsible for causing it. The global south isdisproportionately burdened by climate change impacts,
despite contributing less GHG emissions than the global north.
• Differential capacity to shape climate action solutions:
The worst impacted and most vulnerable states, groups, andindividuals are underrepresented in international climate
negotiations and are often excluded from decision-making
processes regarding climate mitigation and adaptation.
• Differential future response capacity: Climate change
mitigation and adaptation efforts may burden thedevelopment of low- and middle-income countries andvulnerable communities. The transition from carbonintensive to less carbon-intensive production andconsumption could exacerbate inequities as people could
lose jobs or be forced to migrate, compounding alreadycomplex situations of conflict, poverty, and persecution.
Climate change is intrinsically linked to human rights.
In addition to the right to a safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable
environment—recently recognized by the UN Human Rights
Council—climate change can negatively impact multiple humanrights. These impacts will be felt acutely by those who earn aliving in agricultural, forestry, and fishing industries, particularlyin the global south. Examples of some of the corresponding
human rights impacts of climate change include the following:• Rising global temperatures increase heat-related illnesses
and deaths, increase the spread of disease, reduce crop yields
and nutritional value, and increase the likelihood of disasterrelated mental health impacts. This threatens the right toproperty, health, water, an adequate standard of living, and life.
• Rising sea levels negatively impact water quality, soil
salinization, and agricultural production, potentially leading to
the displacement of millions of people. This threatens the rightto property, health, water, and an adequate standard of living.
• Ocean acidification can lead to job loss and damage
coastline economies, foster food insecurity, andjeopardize cultural identities. This threatens the rightto work, to maintain an adequate standard of living, andto participate in the cultural life of the community.
Climate change impacts will be most acutely felt by the world’s
most vulnerable populations. A central pillar of climate justice isto ensure that climate change decision-making is participatory,transparent, and accountable. While the environmental movement
has been historically criticized for excluding underprivileged
voices, climate justice seeks to empower and uplift vulnerable
and underprivileged voices. Specific communities that areClimate Justice Briefing Paper

vulnerable to climate change and climate injustice include lowincome and poor communities, women, children, and Black,indigenous and first nations peoples, and people of color.
Under the United Nations Guiding Principles on Businessand Human Rights (UNGPs), while states have a duty toprotect human rights through legislation and the enforcementof standards, businesses have the responsibility to respecthuman rights and comply with legislation. A commitment to
the UNGPs requires businesses to identify and address or
mitigate their salient human rights impacts, including thoserelated to climate change, in their operations and supply chains.
Businesses have contributed to the unequitable distributionof climate-related human rights impacts experienced today—
through a variety of avenues, including emitting GHGs,
depleting the earth’s resources, making political donations,and engaging in lobbying efforts against climate policy.
Climate impacts can also be influenced by business practices
that rely on low wages and poor working conditions.
Like much of the agricultural industry, the tobacco sector has
several salient climate-related human rights risks. As 90% of
all tobacco cultivation is concentrated in the global south, theenvironmental impacts associated with tobacco farming—suchas deforestation and water consumption—are predominantly
burdened by less developed regions. As supply chains shift toaccount for the warming planet and transition to sustainable
practices, it is often low-income workers, farmers, andcommunities most at risk of job losses and livelihood impacts.
The private sector should play an important role inadvancing climate justice by realigning business incentives
with international climate commitments, such as the Paris
Agreement. Businesses are increasingly committing to energy
transitions, GHG emission reductions, and deforestation
targets. Many are also increasing transparency and reporting
surrounding their progress, committing to lead in the fightagainst climate change, and helping to influence government
action on climate and human rights impacts. Through due
diligence efforts, businesses can better understand how
climate change and sustainability measures impact the people
associated with their business. In accordance with the UNGPs,
businesses must “know and show” their impacts on the climate.
Further application of the UNGPs provide a framework forbusinesses to mitigate their impacts, enact just transitions,and provide access to remedy for human rights impacts.

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY continued

Here we identify several opportunities
for the private sector to advance climate
justice through an integrated approachto sustainability and human rights,
in accordance with the UNGPs.

Identify• Recognize interconnectivity between climate change andhuman rights.
• Expand human rights due diligence to include climate-related
human rights impacts.
• Ensure that due diligence includes a targeted focus onvulnerable groups.
• Undertake detailed mapping exercises to assess specificvulnerabilities to climate change and associated transitions
among disaggregated stakeholder groups.
• Review external spending, such as marketing efforts, througha climate justice lens.

Address• Develop a set of climate justice principles or commit to an
existing public framework.
• Work with suppliers and business partners to address value
chain contributions to climate change.
• Support the efforts of frontline communities and impacted
stakeholders to adapt and develop climate resilience.
• Commit to living incomes throughout the supply chain.
• Facilitate access to remedy for climate-related humanrights impacts.

Engage• Ensure the voices of stakeholders, especially those underrepresented, are reflected in the company’s approach tosustainability, resilience, and adaptation.
• Advance climate justice awareness with stakeholder groups.
• Uplift and support frontline climate change solutions.
• Seek opportunities to partner with the public sector andadvocate for accountable governance, as well as transformative
climate change and just transition policy.
• Pursue opportunities to collaborate on climate justice throughmulti-stakeholder initiatives and forums.

Report• Commit to collecting data and reporting transparently on thecompany’s GHG emissions, including historic emissions.
• Set transformative science-based climate targets, disclose
strategies on how to achieve them, and report on progress.
• Share progress, including learnings and materials, on
implementing a strategic approach to climate justice andintegrating principles into operations.

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

THE CLIMATE CRISISClimate change is a global emergency. Scientists’ warnings of the needfor transformative and coordinated action to avoid the tipping points inthe climate system that would lead to severe biodiversity loss and the riskof social and ecological collapse have become steadily more dire.
2

3

Along with increasing temperatures, we’ve seen devastating
wildfires in Australia, New Zealand, and North America,4hurricanes and tropical storms in the Atlantic basin,5 andlong-term droughts followed by destructive flooding in
East Africa and Central America.6 The growing visibility of
the immediate and catastrophic impacts of climate change
on people around the world is empowering a global andintersectional community to come to the table to develop
solutions. As the United Nations noted, the consequences ofour failure to win this race are far-reaching and irreversible:

8.7m

1.2bn

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation

Source: Institute for Economics & Peace

+3°C

78%

Source: UN Environmental Programme

Source: UN Environmental Programme

20%

90%

people die prematurely each year
from pollution attributed to fossil fuels“No corner of the globe is immune fromthe devastating consequences of climatechange. Rising temperatures are fuelingenvironmental degradation, natural
disasters, weather extremes, food and water
insecurity, economic disruption, conflict, andterrorism. Sea levels are rising, the Arctic
is melting, coral reefs are dying, oceans are
acidifying, and forests are burning. It is clearthat business as usual is not good enough.”temperature increase by 2100
if we don’t slow global emissions

people could be displaced byclimate change by 2050

of all emissions come fromG20 countries

7

A primary cause of climate change is a 47% increase inatmospheric CO2 concentration since 1784 and advent of
the Industrial Revolution when humans began burning fossil
fuels at scale. In 2020, the global temperature was on average
1.1°Celsius above pre-industrial levels. While the increase mightseem small, the impacts of this increase are already being felt
around the world and will become extreme if global temperatures
increase beyond 1.5°C.

more people projected to be
at risk of hunger by 2050 due
to extreme weather events
Source: UN World Food Programmeof disasters now classified as
weather- and climate-related,costing the world economy$520 billion annuallySource: UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction& Centre for Research on the Epidemiology
of Disasters

2 National Geographic, “Resource Library | Climate Change” 2020
3 Bioscience, “World Scientists’ Warning of a Climate Emergency” (Volume 70, Issue 1, January 2020)
4 The New Yorker, “It’s a Worldwide Problem”: How North American and Australian Firefighters Work
Together” 2020
5 Forbes, “5 Tropical Cyclones In The Atlantic Basin Simultaneously—Is This A Record?” (2020)
6 Nature, “Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya face devastating drought” (2020), Internal Displacement
Monitoring Centre, “Drought-Stricken Communities Hit by Destructive Floods in the Horn of Africa”(2018) and The New York Times Magazine, “The Great Climate Migration” (2020)
7 United Nations, “The Climate Crisis—A Race We Can Win” (2020)

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

WHAT
IS CLIMATEJUSTICE?

1

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

A safe, clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is afundamental human right, recently recognized by the UN Human
Rights Council.8 Climate change has, and is going to continue
to, impact all of us, on a global scale; however, not all of us will
experience the impacts of climate change equally or equitably.
“‘Climate justice’ is a term, and more than that a movement,that acknowledges climate change can have differing
economic, public health, and other adverse impacts onunderprivileged populations. Advocates for climate justice
are striving to have these inequities addressed head-on
through long-term mitigation and adaptation strategies.”9
Climate justice describes how the gains and losses of theenvironment are often unjustly distributed, not only regarding
other species or future generations of humans, but also among
humans living today.10 Social inequality between wealthy
and poor nations, and within nations between people ofdifferent races, ethnicities, classes, genders, and generations,influence our relationships with our shared planet.11

The primary asymmetries of climate changethat climate justice seeks to address are:
1. Differential contributions to climate change
2. Impacts of climate change
3. Capacity to shape solutions
4. Future response capacity11
These injustices are described in the following sections.

“‘Climate justice’ is a term, andmore than that a movement, that
acknowledges climate change canhave differing economic, publichealth, and other adverse impacts
on underprivileged populations.
Advocates for climate justice are
striving to have these inequities
addressed head-on through long-term
mitigation and adaptation strategies.”

9

Indirect impacts of climate change13

Environmental degradation

Degraded living conditions& social inequities

Impact ofclimate change onhuman health andexacerbation ofexisting inequities

gC

O
2

lev

se

sin

al
ev

rea

Injuries, fatalities,
loss of homes,
mental health impacts

els

In c

Severe weather

Exacerbation of existingsocial and health inequities
and vulnerabilities

Mo
re
ex
tre

r
the
ea
ew

Heat-related illness
and death, cardiovascular
failure

res
tu
a
er

m

Extreme heat

Ris
ing
te
m
p

Forced migration, civil conflict,mental health impacts,
loss of jobs and income

els

R

ng
isi

Changes in vector ecology
Malaria, dengue, encephalitis,
hantavirus, Rift Valley fever,lyme disease, chikungunya,West Nile virus

Air pollution &increasing allergens
Asthma, cardiovasculardisease, respiratory allergies

Water & food supply impacts

Water quality impacts

Malnutrition,
diarrheal disease

Cholera, crytosporidiosis, campylobacter,
leptospirosis, harmful algal blooms

8 	UN Human Rights Council, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights
obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment” (2018)9 	Yale Climate Connections, “What is ‘climate justice’?” (2020)10 The Journal of Peasant Studies “Is there a global environmental justice movement?” (2016)11 Environmental Justice Vol.2, “The International Dimension of Climate Justice and the Need forInternational Adaptation Funding” (2009)12 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Special Report: Global Warming on 1.5°C”, (2018)13 CDC, “Impact of Climate Change on Human Health & Exacerbation of Existing Inequities”, (2015)

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

WHAT IS CLIMATE JUSTICE? continued

Differential contributions to climate change
High-income countries are responsible for the vast majorityof historical GHG emissions and have benefited in terms of
economic and social development as a result.14 Researchby Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute shows
the unequal cumulative emissions of different global
income groups during the period from 1990 to 2015.15
While the impacts of climate change are disproportionately
felt in low-income countries in the global south16 the G20, theworld’s 20 largest economies, continue to contribute some
78% of all GHG emissions.17 In contrast, for example, African
nations contribute less than 4% of global GHG emissions.18
Only five G20 countries have committed to a long-term zero
emissions target.19 Among the G7 group of countries, none
is close to reducing GHG emissions to a level necessary to
prevent excessive warming. There remains a great deal ofwork to be done by the G7 governments and industry working
together to develop and abide by emissions regulations.20

The Paris Agreement
A landmark of recent climate action, the Paris Agreement
under the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCC), was ratified in 2016 andcommits the 188 signatories to keep the increase inglobal average temperature to below 2°Celsius above
pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit theincrease to 1.5°Celsius, recognizing that this would
substantially reduce the risks of climate change. In
acknowledgment of the collective effort and transparencyof action required, the Paris Agreement also aims tostrengthen the ability of countries to deal with the impactsof climate change and robustly report on progress.

Unequal cumulative emissions by income group15
Share of global carbon
budget for 1.5°C

Share of global
population

Richest1%

Share of cumulative emissions
1990-2015

Richest10%

Middle40%

Remainingcarbonbudget will
be depleted
by 2030
without
urgent action

GtCO2

9%

15%

30

31%

52%
37%

22%

20

Poorest
50%

2030

Used
19902015

10

0
1990

14 	Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “Special Report: Global Warming on 1.5°C” (2018)15 O xfam Media Briefing, “Confronting carbon inequality: Putting climate justice at the heart of the
COVID-19 recovery” (2020)
16 A
 term which refers to lower income countries predominantly located in the Southern Hemisphere17 UN News, “UN emissions report: World on course for more than 3-degree spike, even if climate
commitments are met” (2019)

41%

25%

7%

4%

2015

18 T
 he New York Times, “A Warning That Africa’s Last Glaciers Will Soon Vanish” (2021)
19 UN News, “UN emissions report: World on course for more than 3-degree spike, even if climate
commitments are met” (2019)20 T he American Prospect, “The Industrialized World is Failing to Meet Paris Agreement Goals’’ (2019);
The New York Times “Biden Cancels Keystone XL Pipeline and Rejoins the Paris Climate
Agreement” (2021)°

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

Differential impacts of climate change
The most severe impacts of climate change tend to fall on thoseleast responsible for the problem, within states, between states,and between generations.21 The global south will be significantly
impacted by the changing climate, despite contributing less to
global greenhouse gas emissions.22 Low-income countries andvulnerable populations globally will face more severe climate
and human rights impacts as climate risk is exacerbated where
human rights protections are weakest. These risks compoundsuch that poor and low-income people in under-developed
and low-income countries will be the most affected byclimate change impacts, particularly those who earn a living in
agricultural, forestry, and fishing industries. For example, climatechange impacts are intrinsically linked to low wages, exploitative
business practices, and poor working conditions.23 We explore
some of these vulnerabilities in more detail later in the report.

Differential capacity to shape climate action solutions
The worst-affected and most vulnerable states, groups, andindividuals are underrepresented in international climate
negotiations and are often excluded from participating indecision-making processes on mitigating and adapting toclimate impacts.24 Specifically, many countries in the global
south have limited resources for, and access to international
policy decision-making on climate change mitigation measures,such as international environmental regulations, developing
low-carbon solutions, providing funding and access to adaptive
technologies, and reversing historic environmental damage.25
The pressure to adapt to climate change while protecting
people from its present and worsening impacts poses achallenge for many low- and middle-income countries whowill be in need of insurance and relief. Otherwise, many ofthese costs will be borne by individuals in these countries.26
These financial burdens may be worsened by the adoption ofbinding limits on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon taxes.

Differential future response capacity
Some states, groups, and geographies are at risk of being left
behind as the world progresses to a low-carbon economy.
According to the UN Climate Partnerships for the global south,“Climate change threatens to reverse thedevelopment gains that these countries
in the global south have madein previous years”
27

While necessary, climate change mitigation efforts place
legitimate burdens on development of low- and middle-income countries, as well as vulnerable groups of workers
and communities, as they transition to low-carbon
models of production and consumption.28

21 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “Special Report: Global Warming on 1.5°C” (2018)22 UN Meetings Coverage and Press Releases, “Unprecedented Impacts of Climate Change
Disproportionately Burdening Developing Countries, Delegate Stresses, as Second Committee
Concludes General Debate” (GA/EF/3516, 2019)23 Environmental Justice Vol.2, “The International Dimension of Climate Justice and the Need forInternational Adaptation Funding” (2009)24 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “Special Report: Global Warming on 1.5°C” (2018)25 The Elders, “Our View of Climate Change: Climate Justice”
26 Environmental Justice Vol.2, “The International Dimension of Climate Justice and the Need forInternational Adaptation Funding” (2009)27 UN Sustainable Development Goals, “About the UN Climate Partnerships for the Global South”
28 IPCC, “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C” (2018)

The Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice
A center for thought leadership, education, andadvocacy on the struggle to secure global justice forthose people vulnerable to the impacts of climatechange, has developed the following principles of climate
justice as a call to action in order to advance its visionof a world engaged in the advancing of climate justice.
• Respect and protect human rights• Support the right to development• Share benefits and burdens equitably• Ensure that decisions on climate change areparticipatory, transparent, and accountable• Highlight gender equality and equity• Harness the transformative power ofeducation for climate stewardship• Use effective partnerships to secure climate justice

Citation: Mary Robinson Foundation—ClimateJustice,“Principles of Climate Justice”, (2015)

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

WHAT IS CLIMATE JUSTICE? continued

Transitions to a low-carbon future and other actions to tackle
climate change will have a greater impact on the livelihoodsof low-income groups. Human rights experts and civil society
groups have also drawn attention to concerns of inequity inboth the transition to less carbon-intensive production andconsumption and in climate change adaptation efforts.
As described by the Institute for Human Rights and Business,“The workers who could lose their jobs inthe process of climate mitigation are notalways those who stand to gain from theconsiderable business opportunities of green
and sustainable ‘net zero’ economies.”
29

This dynamic is captured in calls for a “just transition.”
For example, workers and communities are at risk through“transition out” decisions, such as the relocation of supply
chains leading to job losses, and “transition in” decisions, suchas switching to clean energy technologies and the exploitation
associated with conflict minerals.30 A just approach tothese transitions requires workers and communities to be
involved in dialogue that explores these impacts and how
they interact and implement measures to address them.
There is also significant scope for human rights abuses in scenarios
in which climate change necessitates relocating people to “areasthat are less vulnerable to climate impacts,”31 or scenarios inwhich climate change compounds already complex situations ofconflict, poverty, and persecution. The UN Refugee Agency notesthat forced displacement across borders as a result of climatechange triggers refugee emergencies and international protectionneeds, as well as itself also being a “source of tension and politicalconflict if there is added competition for natural resources, land
rights, food, and water.”32 It is predominantly communities in the
global south living in arid, hot zones or coastal communities thatwill be most impacted by rising temperatures and sea levels, aswell as the increasing occurrence of extreme weather events.33
Residents of Central America and the Pacific Islands, among otherlocations, are already facing threats to their survival from related
impacts such as contaminated water supplies, food insecurity,
overcrowding, and violence. In turn, climate migration increases
risks of human trafficking, modern slavery, and child labor.34

The Institute for Human Rights and Business has called for policy
responses to “acknowledge migrants’ agency and the complexity
in decisions to move, as well as the differing ability of people
to move,” as well as the importance of strengthened resiliencein urban areas where climate migrants will likely move.35
In sum, climate justice seeks to address the injustice thatthose who are least responsible for causing the problem ofclimate change are also those most likely to suffer directly andseverely from its early impacts.36 Environmental and climate
justice organizations are working to bring human rights issues
to international and domestic climate policy discussions
and are calling for an equitable sharing of the benefits andburdens associated with climate change adaptation andmitigation.37 However, central to a rights-based approach toclimate policy is the inclusion of all groups that are most likely
to be affected by climate change, including: women, youth,
poor and low-income people, Black communities, indigenous
and first nations peoples, people of color, and those at theintersections of these identities. Grassroots and multistakeholder solutions encapsulated by calls for climate justicerepresent powerful opportunities for a more sustainable,
effective, and inclusive approach to tackling climate change.

Adaptation vs. Mitigation

ADAPTATION
Adapting to life in achanging climate involves
adjusting to actual or
expected future climate.

MITIGATION

29	Institute for Human Rights and Business, “Just Transitions for All: Business, Human Rights andClimate Action” (2020)30	Institute for Human Rights and Business, “Connecting the Just Transitions and Business and Human
Rights Agendas” (2020)31	Institute of Human Rights and Business, “Just Transitions for All: Business, Human Rights andClimate Action” (2020)32	UNHCR, “Climate change and displacement: How conflict and climate change form a toxic
combination that drives people from their homes” (2019)33	The New York Times Magazine, “The Great Climate Migration” (2020)34	The Revelator, “The Surprising Link Between Climate Change and Human Trafficking” (2018);
ILO “Migration and child labor”; and Anti-Slavery, “Climate change and modern slavery” (2019)35	Institute for Human Rights and Business, “Top 10 Business and Human Rights Issues for 2021 –Climate Migration: Responding to the Reality of Displaced Communities” (2021)
36	Environmental Justice Vol.2, “The International Dimension of Climate Justice and the Need forInternational Adaptation Funding” (2009)37	Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice, “Principles of Climate Justice” (2015)

Reducing climate change
involves reducing the flowof heat- trapping greenhousegases into the atmosphere

Citation: NASA, Global Climate Change, “Solutions—Mitigation and Adaptation”

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

THE HUMAN
RIGHTSDIMENSION
OF CLIMATECHANGE2

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

THE HUMAN RIGHTS DIMENSION
OF CLIMATE CHANGE“Human beings are part of nature,and our human rights are intertwinedwith the environment in which welive. Environmental harm interfereswith the enjoyment of human rights,
and the exercise of human rights helps
to protect the environment and topromote sustainable development.”

There has been growing support for applying human rights norms
to environmental issues, including the human right to a safe, clean,healthy, and sustainable environment, and more expansively therights to life, adequate living standard, decent work, health, food,water, housing, culture, development, property, and privacy.38
The UN Framework Principles on Human Rights and theEnvironment (presented on the following pages) has put forward
guidelines for such support.

39

38 United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Human rights obligations
relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment” (2018)39 UN Human Rights Special Procedures “Framework Principles on Human Rights and theEnvironment” (2018)40 UN Environment Programme, “Facts about the Climate Emergency” (2020)
41 UN Environment Programme, “Facts about the Climate Emergency” (2020); Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Changes, “Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5°C” (2018), NRDC, “Are theEffects of Global Warming Really that Bad?” (2016)42 UN Environment Programme, “Facts about the Climate Emergency” (2020); Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Changes, “Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5°C” (2018), NRDC, “Are theEffects of Global Warming Really that Bad?” (2016)43 UN, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (1948)
44 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Climate Effects on Health” (2020), NRDC, “Are theEffects of Global Warming Really that Bad?” (2016)
45 CDC, “Impact of Climate Change on Human Health & Exacerbation of Existing Inequities” (2015)46 UN Environment Programme, “Facts about the Climate Emergency” (2020); Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Changes, “Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5°C” (2018); NRDC, “Are theEffects of Global Warming Really that Bad?” (2016)47 Stanford Medical University, “How does Climate Change Affect Disease?” (2019) and CDC,
“Impact of Climate Change on Human Health & Exacerbation of Existing Inequities” (2015)

48 Stanford Medical University, “How does Climate Change Affect Disease?” (2019)49 CDC, “Impact of Climate Change on Human Health & Exacerbation of Existing Inequities” (2015)
50 CDC, “Impact of Climate Change on Human Health & Exacerbation of Existing Inequities” (2015)
51 UN, “International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’ 2005-2015” (2014)
52 WHO, “Climate change and health” (2018) and UNHCHR “Climate Change and Disaster
Displacement” (2020)
53 WHO, “Climate change and health” (2018)
54 WHO, “Climate change and health” (2018)55 UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “Climate Change and Social Inequality” (2017)56 Colombia University, “How Climate Change Impacts Our Water” (2019)57 UN, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (1948)
58 CDC, “Impact of Climate Change on Human Health & Exacerbation of Existing Inequities” (2015)
59 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Climate Effects on Health” (2020), NRDC,“Are the Effects of Global Warming Really that Bad?” (2016)60 UNHCHR “Climate Change and Disaster Displacement” (2020)
61 UNHCHR “Climate Change and Disaster Displacement” (2020)
62 The New York Times Magazine, “The Great Climate Migration” (2020)

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

Present effects of climate change

Rising temperatures
Average temperatures for the fiveyear (2015-2019) and 10-year(2010-2019) periods are the highest
on record.40 Higher temperatures
are changing precipitation patterns
and increasing the frequency andseverity of cyclones and hurricanes,
heat waves, floods, and droughts.41
Higher temperatures are also
contributing to increased ground levelozone concentration, the primary
component of smog, due to reactions
between pollutants emitted fromcars, factories, and other sources
with sunlight and heat.42

Impacts on human rights
Right to health(UDHR 25)43
Heat: As temperatures spike, so does the incidence of heat-related illness, emergency
room visits, and death.44 Dirtier air is linked to higher hospital admission rates and higher
death rates for asthmatics and those with diminished lung function.45 Increased heatalso worsens the health of people suffering from cardiac or pulmonary disease.46
Spread of disease: As the climate warms in different regions of the world, mosquitoes
and other biting insects that transmit several human infectious diseases will migrate toregions with temperatures that were previously too cold for them.47 The transmissionof malaria, dengue fever, and West Nile Virus, and several waterborne diseases ispredicted to spike, particularly in the global north.48 In addition, diarrheal diseases,
including salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis, are more common when temperatures
are higher, though patterns differ by place and pathogen.49
Mental health impacts: Following disasters, mental health problems increase, both
among people with no history of mental illness, and those at risk—a phenomenon known
as “common reactions to abnormal events.” These reactions may be short-lived or, insome cases, long-lasting. Some people with mental illness are especially susceptible
to heat; for example, suicide rates rise with high temperatures, suggesting potential
impacts from climate change on depression and other mental illnesses.50

Right to water(UN Resolution 64/292)51
Droughts & wildfires: Long periods of record-high temperatures are associated withdroughts that can destroy crops and cause famine, contribute to dry conditions of land,and drive wildfires in some areas.52 Exposure to wildfire smoke, containing several
dangerous air pollutants, increases respiratory and cardiovascular hospitalizations,emergency department visits, and other severe health impacts.53
Floods contaminate freshwater supplies, heighten the risk of waterborne diseases, andcreate breeding grounds for disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes. They also
cause drownings and physical injuries, damage homes, regional infrastructures, social/neighboring structures, and harvests, and disrupt the supply of medical and healthservices.54
Changes in water demand: Climate change could change how we use water and how
much we need. Presently, two thirds of the global population are estimated to live
under conditions where water is severely scarce for at least one month of the year;
this exposure is expected to increase with climate change.55 Higher temperatures andevaporation rates due to increased temperatures could increase the demand for waterin many areas. Increased demand is likely to exacerbate existing water shortage issues
and limit access to safe drinking water.56 Drawing more water from wells may decrease
groundwater levels and limit the ability of the poorest to access water.

Rights to life & an adequate standard of living(UDHR 3, 17 & 25)57
Food and livelihood security: Climate change is expected to threaten food production,
as well as food prices and distribution systems. Many crop yields are predicted to
decline because of the combined effects of changes in rainfall, severe weather events,
and increasing competition from weeds and pests on crop plants. Livestock and fish
production are also projected to decline. As these impacts contribute to rising food prices,
food insecurity is likely to increase. In addition, the cumulative impacts of climate change
on farming are projected to lead to a decline in the nutritional value of some foods.58
Extreme weather events have taken lives, destroyed homes and communities, caused
billions of dollars of damage and losses, exacerbated the spread of diseases, and taken
many years to recover from.59 Extreme weather events also displace people: There
were 18.8 million new disaster-related internally displaced people recorded in 2017.60
While most disaster displacement linked to the impacts of climate change is internal,
displacement across borders also occurs, and may be interrelated with situations ofconflict or violence.61 Mass cross-border migration as a result of extreme weather
events and resulting economic pressures (such as hunger and poverty) is expected tosignificantly increase. By 2070, 19% of the world’s population may be living in hot zones
that make survival untenable.62

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

THE HUMAN RIGHTS DIMENSION OF CLIMATE CHANGE continued

Present effects of climate change

Rising sea levels
Around the world, mountain glaciers,
ice sheets covering West Antarctica
and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice
are melting. The rate of melting
ice is highest at the Earth’s poles,
where it is most essential. Global
sea levels are rising 0.13 inches (3.2
millimeters) a year, and the rise isoccurring at a faster rate in recent
years.63 Rising sea levels due tothermal expansion and melting land
ice sheets and glaciers put coastal
areas at greater risk of erosion andstorm surge.64

Ocean acidification
The oceans absorb about 30%of the carbon dioxide (CO2) thatis released in the atmosphere. As
levels of atmospheric CO2 increase
from human activity, the oceans’ pH
decreases, and the oceans become
more acidic. Since the industrial
revolution, the oceans have had
a 30% increase in acidity.71 Ocean
acidification is already impacting
many ocean species, especiallyorganisms like oysters and corals
that make hard shells and skeletonsby combining calcium and carbonate
from seawater.72

Impacts on human rights
Rights to property, water, health, and an adequate standard of living(UDHR 17 & 25, UN Resolution 64/292)65
Displacement: More than 600 million people (around 10% of the world’s population)
live in coastal areas that are less than 10 meters above sea level,66 and it’s estimated that147 million to 216 million people live on land that will be below sea level or regular floodlevels by the end of the century, assuming emissions of heat-trapping gases continue
on their current trend.67 People may be forced to move, which in turn heightens the riskof a range of health effects, from mental disorders to communicable diseases.68 This
has already dramatically impacted Pacific Island nations. Over 23% of migrants from
Kiribati named climate change impacts as a reason for migration—70% of the populationof the island have expressed that they would migrate for climate change risks, and
it is predicted that by 2055, internal migration will increase 100% and internationalmigration will increase 35%.69
Water quality impacts: In general, coastal and near-shore habitats and theirecosystems are more exposed to the effects of climate change, including flooding,erosion, and salinity intrusion. Saltwater intrusion occurs when seawater flows into
freshwater aquifers, often leading to degraded water quality of drinking and sanitationwater sources. Increased water salinity disrupts coastal farmers’ abilities to grow crops,
impacting their right to work. A large portion of those living in coastal and near-shore
habitats around the world are low-income or poor communities who cannot afford tolive in safer areas. As a result, these groups are disproportionately exposed to salinity
intrusion caused by climate change.70

Rights to work, to an adequate standard of living, and to participate in thecultural life of the community(UDHR 23, 25, and 27)73
Industry impact: Many jobs and economies in the many countries around the world with acoastline and fishery depend on the fish and shellfish from the ocean.74 Ocean acidificationis having a significant impact on these livelihoods. For example, as of 2015, acidification isbelieved to have cost the Pacific Northwest oyster industry in the U.S. nearly USD 110
million.75 Additionally, ocean acidification will directly harm coral reef ecosystems, which halfa billion people depend upon within the tourism industry.76
Food security: Over 3 billion people worldwide rely on food from the ocean as theirprimary source of protein. Ocean acidification endangers this source of food asincreased acidity threaten oysters, clams, corals, and their surrounding ecosystems;
putting fish, other marine life, and humans—who all depend on those ecosystems—atrisk. This threat is disproportionally felt by low-income communities who make up athird of the global population that depend upon the ocean for food security.77
Loss of cultural identity: The loss of fisheries due to ocean acidification threatens thecultural identities of indigenous communities. This threat is intensified for indigenous
communities who not only value marine life culturally, but also depend upon it forsustenance. For example, threats to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia could jeopardize
the Yirrganydji people—an Australian Aboriginal tribe—who value the reef andsurrounding ecosystem as central to their cultural beliefs, sense of identity, and local
economy.78

63 UN Environment Programme, “Facts about the Climate Emergency” (2020); Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Changes, “Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5ºC” (2018), NRDC,“Are the Effects of Global Warming Really that Bad?” (2016)
64 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration U.S. Department of Commerce,“Climate Change Impacts” (2020)
65 UN, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (1948)
66 UN, “The Ocean Conference” (2017)67 Climate Central, “New Analysis Shows Global Exposure to Sea Level Rise” (2014)
68 WHO, “Climate change and health” (2018)69 United Nations University, “Climate Change and Migration in the Pacific: Links, Attitudes,
and Future Scenarios in Nauru, Tuvalu, and Kiribati” (2017)70 U
 N Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “Climate Change and Social Inequality” (2017)71 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “Ocean Acidification” (2020)
72 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “Ocean Acidification” (2020)
73 UN, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (1948)
74 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “Ocean Acidification” (2020)
75 NRDC, “Are the Effects of Global Warming Really that Bad?” (2016)76 EPA, “Effects of Ocean and Coastal Acidification on Ecosystems” (2019)77 Climate Central, “Ocean Acidification Threatens Food Security, Report” (2012)78 Phys.org, “Great Barrier Reef Survival Key to Indigenous Identity” (2014)

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

GROUPS VULNERABLE
TO CLIMATE INJUSTICE
Climate change will have major human rights implications, and these impacts will bemost acutely felt by the world’s most vulnerable populations—the youth and future
generations, both groups with limited ability to influence the projected course of events.
According to Human Rights Watch, “Indigenous populations,poor and socially marginalized individuals, women, andpeople with disabilities, are often most affected by climatechange.”79 These groups often have less protection fromenvironmental health hazards and less access to the decisionmaking processes to advocate and secure a healthierenvironment to live in.80 Inequitable climate change impacts
include, but are not limited to, drought, famine, storms andflooding, exposure to toxins, distribution of waste, as well as
loss of biodiversity and livelihood and forced migration.
A central principle of climate justice is to ensure that decisions on
climate change are participatory, transparent, and accountable.81
This principle recognizes the importance of including vulnerable
voices in both deliberations and decisions on mitigating theimpacts of climate change and in transitioning to different energy
and consumption models. Climate justice also acknowledges thatthe environmental movement has historically been criticizedfor the exclusion of Black, indigenous, and people of color(BIPOC) voices.82 Inclusive partnerships will be better able toaddress the impacts of climate change, as well as ensure that
fundamental human rights—including the right to information,
public participation, and access to justice—are upheld.
Vulnerable groups may lack both access to remedy orchannels to hold the public and private sector accountablefor failures to address climate and human rights impacts.83“Those who are at greater risk fromenvironmental harm … often include
women, children, persons living inpoverty, members of indigenous peoples
and traditional communities, older persons,
persons with disabilities, ethnic, racial, orother minorities and displaced persons.”
84

More information on the way different vulnerable
groups experience climate injustice is found in thestakeholder profiles in the sections that follow.

79 A Human Rights Watch, “There is No Time Left”: Climate Change, Environmental Threats, andHuman Rights in Turkana County, Kenya” (2015)
80 The New York Times Magazine, “Pollution is Killing Black Americans. This community Fought Back”(2020)
81 Mary Robinson Foundation Climate Justice, “Principles of Climate Justice”
82 Shado Magazine—Climate Justice, Issue 03; “The Climate Action Movement is Coconuts”(O’Niel Leadon, 2020)
83 The Journal of Peasant Studies “Is there a global environmental justice movement?,” (2016)84 UN Human Rights Special Procedures “Framework Principles on Human Rights and theEnvironment” (2018)“Indigenous populations, poor and sociallymarginalized individuals, women, andpeople with disabilities, are often mostaffected by climate change.”
79

A note on intersectionality
It should be acknowledged that many vulnerable people
and communities do not fit neatly into the profiles listed
above and often overlap across multiple identities. This iscalled intersectionality. These intersections can amplify
disadvantage, inequality, and systemic discrimination.
Similarly, vulnerability to climate change is compounded
and risks are heightened.
Citation: UN World Data Forum, “Integrate Intersecting Inequalities to Leave No One
Behind” (2020)

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

GROUPS VULNER ABLE TO CLIMATE INJUSTICE continued

Low-income and poor communities
Low-income and poor communities are disproportionallyvulnerable to climate change threats because of their heightened
exposure to climate change and susceptibility to climate change
hazards, as well as barriers to resilience and adaptation to climatechange impacts.85• Heightened exposure: Poor communities are often locatedin areas exposed to hazards from rising water, droughts, flood,and famine. Low-income people also experience higher rates
of medical conditions due to lower accessibility of healthcare
resources, translating to greater sensitivity to climate healthhazards.86• Heightened susceptibility: Impoverished people are also
more susceptible to climate change impacts as a lack of accessto information, capital, resources, or a diversification of assets
can impact their ability to prepare and respond to climatechange.87• Decreased ability to cope: Low-income and poor
communities also face financial barriers to climate change
mitigation or adaptation strategies that are often expected orforced upon them by wealthier nations with minimal financial
supports.88 Low-income countries and people face systemic
discrimination, underrepresentation in international climate
negotiations, and are generally excluded from climate decisionmaking processes.89
For example, according to Mercy Corps, a U.S. humanitarian aid
NGO, three out of four people living in poverty rely on agriculture
and natural resources to survive.90 As such, low-income andpoor communities will face significant livelihood impacts asa result of climate change, particularly smallholder farmers,
herders, and fisheries, who are also currently experiencing
heightened challenges as a result of COVID-19 and difficulties
in accessing finance (see box).91 The workforce of the global
south is particularly at risk to climate change, presenting risks toboth workers92 and food security and agricultural value chains,
as 78% of the world’s harvested cropland lie within developing
countries.93 These compounding impacts of climate change
exemplify the vulnerability of low-income and poor communities
and the importance of business having a nuanced understandingof climate-vulnerable groups.

85 	UN, “Climate Change and Social Inequality” (2017)86 	EPA, “Climate Impacts on Human Health” (2017)87 	UN, “Climate Change and Social Inequality” (2017)88 	Environmental Justice Vol.2, “The International Dimension of Climate Justice and the Need forInternational Adaptation Funding,” (2009); UN, “Climate Change and Social Inequality” (2017)89 	The Journal of Peasant Studies “Is there a global environmental justice movement?” (2016)90 	Mercy Corps, “The facts: How climate change affects people living in poverty” (2019)91 	Eco-Business, “How can Asia’s smallholder farmers endure both climate change and Covid-19?” (2021)
92 	UN, “Climate Change and Social Inequality” (2017)93 	Brookings, “Where does the world’s food grow?” (2016)

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

Women

Children

Women are disproportionately vulnerable to climate change
because systemic social inequalities translate to higher poverty
rates, higher health risks, and lack of legal or political participatory
power.94

Children are highly vulnerable to climate impacts due toheightened health risks, higher rates of poverty, and lack ofaccess to participatory power.

• Higher poverty rates: Women experience poverty at a higher
rate than men, resulting in more barriers to mitigating climate
crises.95 Examples of these barriers include limited capitaland lower pay, higher rates of unpaid work, land ownership
restrictions, less access to technological resources, anddiscrimination at household, workplace, local, national, andinternational levels.96• Higher health risks: Women face heightened health risks
due to poverty, discriminatory health care practices, andheightened vulnerability surrounding pregnancy.97 Exposure
to climate-related risks like extreme heat waves, air pollution,
and water-borne diseases has led to dramatic health challenges
for pregnant women and the health of newborns, including
spontaneous abortions, neonatal death, malnutrition,
psychological stress, and various diseases.98• Lack of participatory power: Gender barriers limit the ability
women have to participate in political or legal governance anddiminish their voice in climate change decision-making. This
weakens their ability to adapt to climate risks and can greatly
impact their human rights, including, the right to equality, theright to an adequate standard of living for themselves and theirfamilies, and the right to have just working conditions
free of discrimination.99
While it is important to recognize women as a vulnerable group
to climate crises, it is equally crucial to support and implement
the climate solutions women are already providing. The central
roles women play in agriculture, food production, food security,
family management, and income generation provide them withcritical knowledge and experience central to climate justice andadaptation.100 If women are empowered to participate more fully,
they can be a productive voice in climate justice efforts and canfurther business productivity.101

94 	Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice, “Women’s Participation: An Enabler of Climate
Justice” (2015)95 	Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice, “Women’s Participation: An Enabler of Climate
Justice” (2015)96 	
BSR, “Climate + Women: The Business Case for Action” (2018)97 	World Health Organization, “Gender Biases and Discrimination: A Review of Health Care
Interpersonal Interactions” (2007); US Global Change Research Program, “Climate and Health
Assessment” (2016)98 	
US Global Change Research Program, “Climate and Health Assessment” (2016)99 	
UN, “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (1948)100 	Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice, “Women’s Participation: An Enabler of Climate
Justice” (2015); BSR, “Climate + Women: The Business Case for Action” (2018)• Health risks: Children are positioned within a vulnerable
window of development and often have maturing, andtherefore weaker, immune, metabolic, and physiologicalsystems.102 This leaves them highly susceptible toenvironmental changes including increased heat, decreased
air quality, water-borne illnesses, various diseases, and extreme
weather events.103 Children connect to their environment
differently and, through play, often have greater exposure
to environmental contaminants.104• Higher rates of poverty: Children are at higher risk formalnourishment, leading them to be disproportionately
vulnerable to food insecurity.105 Especially in the global south,
children are more likely to live in families facing poverty.106
In addition to establishing barriers to sanitation, education,and capital, poverty directly reduces the ability children haveto mitigate and adapt to climate change and environmental
risk.107 As impoverished families face climate impacts, there isheightened risk of them being drawn into child labor and facing
financial barriers to education108—directly impacting childrights. This can perpetuate systems of poverty, greatly placing
the future generation at risk of human rights violations.
• Lack of access to political participation: Children face thechallenge of intergenerational justice whereby the youth andfuture generations will inherit the consequences of today’s
decisions yet have little if any access to participatory power;
rather, it is currently living adults who hold the power forclimate decision-making.109

101 	Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice, “Women’s Participation: An Enabler of Climate
Justice” (2015); BSR, “Climate + Women: The Business Case for Action” (2018)
102 	 UN Human Rights Special Procedures “Framework Principles on Human Rights and theEnvironment” (2018); US Global Change Research Program, “Climate and Health Assessment” (2016)
103 	 US Global Change Research Program, “Climate and Health Assessment” (2016)
104 	 US Global Change Research Program, “Climate and Health Assessment” (2016)
105 	 UNICEF, “Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa” (2011); US Global
Change Research Program, “Climate and Health Assessment” (2016)106 	 UNICEF, “Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa” (2011)107 	UNICEF, “Exploring the Impact of Climate Change on Children in South Africa” (2011)108 	 UNICEF, “The Challenges of Climate Change: Children on the Front Line” (2014)
109 UNICEF, “Children on the Front Line” (2014)

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GROUPS VULNER ABLE TO CLIMATE INJUSTICE continued

Black, indigenous and first nations peoples, people of color, and systemicall oppressed communities
While Black, indigenous and first nations peoples, and people of color are grouped together
under the term BIPOC (a term predominantly used in the United States, but applicableglobally), vulnerability and climate risks among these identities are experienced differently.

Black, indigenous and first nations peoples, and people of color(BIPOC) communities around the world are disproportionately
vulnerable to climate change due to historical and ongoingcolonialism, discrimination, and racism. Importantly, the socialand political identities of all people are intersectional, meaning
they often overlap—for example across race, class, and gender.
These intersections can amplify disadvantage, inequality, andsystemic discrimination.110 Similarly, vulnerability to climatechange is compounded and risks are heightened. Histories of
oppression—including slavery, segregation, and colonialism—
can be directly tied to the disadvantages and climate vulnerability
BIPOC communities face today.111• Black and people of color communities: Black and peopleof color (POC) communities around the world are more
likely to live in climate risk–prone areas often categorizedby higher pollution rates, vulnerable infrastructure, andland susceptible to rising sea levels.112 Systemic racism
and structural inequality—manifested in practices such as
redlining113 and ghettoizing114 —have enclosed Black and POC
communities within climate-vulnerable areas by limiting accessto capital, resources, education, and participatory governance,
perpetuating racial discrimination.115 This greatly increases thesocioeconomic challenges Black and POC communities face; it
often traps them in poverty and limits their ability to mitigate,
adapt, and recover from climate change risks.116 An example ofthis in the United States of America is that Black communities
are 75% more likely to live near hazardous waste facilities
than other identities.117 In South Africa, the apartheid policythat institutionalized racial segregation from 1948 until 1994
perpetuated systemic inequalities that are still experienced
today. The country’s disproportionate racial wealth gap entraps

110 UN World Data Forum, “Integrate Intersecting Inequalities to Leave No One Behind” (2020)
111 Yale Environment 360, “Unequal Impact: The Deep Links Between Racism and Climate Change” (2020)112 US Global Change Research Program, “Climate and Health Assessment” (2016); UN, Africa
Renewal, “Global warming: severe consequences for Africa” (December 2018—March 2019);
113 Redlining is the systematic denial of various services, such as insurance or bank loans, to residents ofcertain areas based on their race or ethnicity. It is recognized as both discriminatory and unethical andhas been widely criticized for contributing to entrenching poverty, inequality, and environmental
racism, as well as violations of various human rights.
114 Ghettoizing or ghettoization refers to the process of physical isolation or concentration of particulargroups in society—often based on race, religion or ethnicity—in response to external pressures, suchas discriminatory real-estate practices or threat of violence. It can also refer to treating a particulargroup in society as if they are different from other parts of society and as if their activities andinterests are not important to other people.
115 Shado Magazine—Climate Justice, Issue 03, “The Degradation of the Environment is Inseparablefrom the Degradation of Black Bodies” (Teju Adisa-Farrar, 2020); Yale Environment 360, “Unequal
Impact: The Deep Links Between Racism and Climate Change” (2020)
116 Yale Environment 360, “Unequal Impact: The Deep Links Between Racism and Climate Change”(2020); US Global Change Research Program, “Climate and Health Assessment” (2016)

the majority of Black South Africans in resource-poor informal
settlements, which are often in close proximity to oil refineries,
coal mines, and other pollution-intensive industries.118
Residents of informal settlements report higher levels ofasthma, cancer, and other pollution-related health risks.119
Systemic racism further prevents Black South Africans’ ability
to advocate for change and mitigate climate risks.120• Indigenous and first nations peoples: Indigenous and firstnations peoples have ties—both voluntary and forced—tospecific geographic locations that are disproportionallyimpacted by climate change and activities that contribute toclimate change, such as land clearing for agricultural reasonsor mining. Threats to this land also present threats to foodsecurity, water security, and loss of cultural identities—all tied
to a multitude of human right impacts.121 For example, theindigenous peoples of the Brazilian Amazon are facing climatechange impacts to their cultural lands including increased
forest fires, intense droughts, delayed rainfall, decreased crop
production, and a rise in corresponding health risks.122
As a result of these vulnerabilities, the UN recognizes thatindigenous and first nations peoples have specific rights
under FPIC (free prior and informed consent).123
One major factor that positions BIPOC communities asvulnerable stakeholders is the lack of representation they havein climate-change decision-making. The lack of political power
BIPOC communities hold often results in marginalization, further
exposing them to environmental vulnerability and perpetuating
systems of discrimination.124

117 The New York Times Magazine, “Pollution is Killing Black Americans. This community Fought Back”(2020)
118 Time Magazine, “What South Africa Can Teach Us as Worldwide Inequality Grows” (2019); New YorkTimes, “End of Apartheid in South Africa? Not in Economic Terms” (2017)
119 Yale Environment 360, “As South Africa Clings to Coal, A Struggle for the Right to Breathe” (2020)
120 Planet Forward, “South African environmental justice activists push toward change, one victory
at a time” (2020)
121 U
 S Global Change Research Program, “Climate and Health Assessment” (2016)122 Viana V., “Health Climate Justice and Deforestation in the Amazon” In: Al-Delaimy W., Ramanathan V.,
Sánchez Sorondo M. (eds) Health of People, Health of Planet and Our Responsibility. Springer, Cham.
(2020); Mongabay News, “Green alert: How indigenous people are experiencing climate change in the
Amazon” (2020)123 F ood and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, “Free Prior and Informed Consent: An
Indigenous Peoples’ Right and a Good Practice for Local Communities” (2016)124 U
 N Human Rights Special Procedures, “Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment”(2018)

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

23

THE ROLE OF
BUSINESS IN
CLIMATE-RELATEDHUMAN RIGHTSIMPACTS

3

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

CLIMATE-RELATED HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACTS
AND THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY
Under the United Nations Guiding
Principles on Business and Human
Rights (UNGPs), while states have aduty to protect human rights, businesses
have a responsibility to account for
the adverse human rights impacts theycause, contribute to, or are directly
linked to through their business
relationships, products, or services.

According to the Institute for Human Rights and Business,carbon intensive production and consumption harms
communities and ecosystems, and “businesses are not bearing
the full social and environmental costs of their operations."127

125

Business has played a role in the unequal distribution of climate
impacts felt today, through major contributions to global GHG
emissions, as well as other environmental impacts,128 and insome cases even concealing their knowledge of the negative
climate impacts of their operations.129 Some businesses havealso made political donations and lobbied against climate policy,
slowing the adoption and implementation of effective climatechange mitigation measures, including policies aimed
at implementing the Paris Agreement.130 On the other
hand, a number of more proactive companies have lobbiedin favor of climate action, as mentioned in the section
on the Importance of Private Sector Leadership.

While economic growth has played a driving role in the
reduction of poverty and hunger over the centuries, it
has regularly been cited as a key cause of environmental
harm and depletion of the earth’s natural resources.126

As shown in the below chart, second to the energy
sector, agriculture was the industry with the next
highest levels of GHG emissions in 2016.131

Greenhouse gas emissions by sector131
Non-ferrous metals
0.7%

Livestock & manure
5.8%

Iron & steel
7.2%

Chemical & petrochemical
3.6%

Agricultural soils
4.1%

Energy use

Rice cultivation
1.3%

Food & tobacco
1%

in in

Crop burning
3.5%
Deforestation
2.2%

Ag
ric
ul
t

5.2% 3.2%

Cement3%yPaper & pulp
0.6%

24
.2
%

Machinery
0.5%

land
En

Other industry
10.6%

74 e
.

2

Landfills
1.9%
Wastewater
1.3%
Chemicals
2.2%

&
try
res
o
f
%
e,
ur 8.4

dus
tr

y
rg %

Cropland
0.4%
Grassland
0.1%

Industry Wa
ste

Greenhousegas emissions
16.2%

Energy inagriculture & fishing
1.7%

ei
nt
ra
n

sp o

rt

Fugitive emisions fromenergy production
75.5%

Unallocated fuelcombustion
7.8%

Road transport
11.9%

us

24

e
En

Ene
r

gy u

se in bu
ildingsrgyAviation
1.9%
Shipping
1.7%

17.5%

Rail
0.4%

Commercial
6.6%

Source: Climate Watch, The World Resources Institute 2020

Pipeline
0.3%
Residential buildings
10.9%

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

The climate impacts of business can be influenced by certain
practices that rely on low wages and poor working conditions.
The groups that are most vulnerable to business-related
climate impacts are BIPOC, women, children, migrants, andcommunities in the global south who often work upstream insupply chains and live in communities with more productionrelated hazards.132 Multinational businesses often look to theglobal south to source raw commodities and shift manufacturing
activities. This happens within a broad and complex frameworkthat includes factors like subsidies or production quotas,
often resulting in companies deploying production activities incountries with weaker rule of law and environmental and laborrights protections. While this has brought jobs and economic
development to communities, many companies have failed toinvest in robust human rights and environmental practices.
For disadvantaged groups, this contributes to a limited safety
net and weak realization of human rights such as just andfavorable working conditions and adequate living standards.
For example, many agricultural products are sourced from
sub-Saharan Africa,133 yet it is predominantly the low-skilled
and low-income farm workers in the region who experience
the health effects of extreme heat exposure and other indirect
health impacts such as exposure to dangerous chemicals, which
will be needed in greater quantities for fertilization as a resultof droughts and desertification caused by climate change.134
Low-paying jobs in the agricultural sector are one of thefactors that has led to a steady flow of labor out of rural andinto urban environments in many countries in the global south.
These communities stand to suffer further economic and foodinsecurity as a result of reductions in agricultural labor andarable land due to climate change.135 Furthermore, threats tolivelihoods as a result of climate change will compound issues ofpoverty and oppression, increasing risks of worker exploitationin the supply chain, particularly among climate migrants.136

125 The UNGPs are a set of guidelines consisting of 31 principles implementing theUnited Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” framework on the issue of humanrights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. Under the
UNGPs, businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights. The UNGPS wereunanimously endorsed by resolution of the UN Human Rights Council in 2011.
126 The Guardian, “Capitalism is destroying the Earth. We need a
new human right for future generations” (2019)127 Institute of Human Rights and Business, “Just Transitions for All:
Business, Human Rights and Climate Action” (2020)
128 For the sake of this report, we have predominantly concentrated on climate impacts;
however, business has contributed to noteworthy other forms of environmental impacts
through poor practices such as deforestation; desertification; the release of toxic chemicals
and other hazardous materials into air, land and water; and harmful dumping—or
exporting—of waste near residential communities. These also often have inequitable
impacts, which are evaluated at a local scale often termed Environmental Justice.
129 The Guardian, “Major global firms accused of concealing their environmental impact” (2019)130 Nature Climate Change, “Lobbying for and against climate solutions” (2019; 9, 427)
131 Our World in Data, “Sector by Sector: where do global greenhouse gas emissions come from?” (2020)132 Shado Magazine—Climate Justice, Issue 03, “Addressing the climate crisis requires Britain to urgently
acknowledge its colonial past” (Fope Olaleye, 2020) (source behind pay wall) and Institute of Human
Rights and Business, “Just Transitions for All: Business, Human Rights and Climate Action” (2020)133 Boston.com, “Wealthy nations outsource crops to Ethiopia’s farmland” (2019)134 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “Impacts of Climate Change
on Outdoor Workers and Their Safety: Some Research Priorities” (2019 Sep; 16(18))
135 PloS One, “Outsourcing Agricultural Production: Evidence from
Rice Farmers in Zhejiang Province” (2017; 12(1))
136 Mercy Corps, “The facts: How climate change affects people living in poverty” (2019)“The climate impacts of business can be
influenced by certain practices that rely
on low wages and poor working conditions.
The groups that are most vulnerable tobusiness-related climate impacts are
BIPOC, women, children, migrants,
and communities in the global south who
often work upstream in supply chainsand live in communities with moreproduction-related hazards.”
132

25

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

CLIMATE-RELATED HUMAN RIGHTS IMPACTS
AND THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY continued

As is true of many segments of the broader
agricultural industry, the tobacco industry
contributes to climate change at each stageof its supply chain, with several humanrights impacts occurring along the way.
For example, even though tobacco farming is a small percentageof global agriculture, salient climate justice risks for tobacco
cultivation are likely to arise given that almost 90% of all
tobacco cultivation is concentrated in the global south.137
As a result, the environmental burdens of tobacco farming,
deforestation, and water consumption are mainly borneby less developed regions. There is limited verifiable publicdata on the impacts of the tobacco industry on the climate;
however, one study based on secondary data sources estimatedthat the annual production of 5.6 trillion cigarettes:138• Contributes almost 84 million tons of CO2-equivalentemissions to climate change. For reference, in 2018,
agriculture-related emissions contributed 9.3 billion tons ofCO2eq to climate change.139• Consumes over 22.2 billion m3 of water. Globally, 4 trillion
m3 of freshwater is consumed annually, of which 70% is for
agriculture.140 According to these estimates, water consumed for
tobacco production would equal 0.5% of total water consumption.
• Requires a total of nearly 5.3 million ha of land.
For reference, in 2018, there were 4.8 billion hectaresof agricultural land.141 According to these estimates, landconsumed for tobacco production would equal approximately
0.11% of agricultural land.
At the same time, it’s necessary to balance mitigation of longterm climate impacts related to tobacco cultivation with theimportance of tobacco production to farmers, foresters,

PMI's efforts to address the climate crisis1• Carbon neutrality in own operations by 2025
• Carbon neutrality across the value chain by 2050
• Water stewardship across all factories by 2025
• Zero net deforestation in the tobacco
supply chain since 2020
• Zero net deforestation in the paper
and pulp supply chain by 2025
Citation: 1. Philip Morris International, Integrated Report 2020

agricultural service providers, and manufacturing workers tosustain their livelihoods. The ability to balance these rights depends
on a number of factors and efforts by different stakeholders,
including the nation’s health and educational facilities, politicalstability, resilience to climate shocks, access to markets,
public infrastructure, and enforcement for regulations.142
If these factors are not present or are insufficiently
developed, tobacco communities risk being locked ina cycle of poverty, which can lead to poor working andliving conditions, including the use of child labor.143
The tobacco industry is likely to benefit from multi-stakeholder
collaboration, improved disclosure, the development of
reliable and measurable standards, and emissions targets
that accurately assess the industry’s collective contribution
to climate change. Leveraging the limited estimates currently
available about the contribution of the tobacco industry to
climate change, and contextualizing it with available data fromother sectors, it’s possible to identify three key intersections
between the tobacco value chain and climate justice:
1. Cultivating tobacco
2. F oresting for curing tobacco & tobacco paper
3. Water consumption for agriculture and manufacturing
A detailed summary of the key intersections of tobacco
production and climate justice impacts is provided on thenext page.

137 WHO, “Cigarette Smoking: An Assessment of Tobacco’s global environmental footprint
across its entire supply chain, and strategies to reduce it” (2018); Ambio, “The environmental
externalities of tobacco manufacturing: A review of tobacco industry reporting” (2019)138 W
 HO, “Cigarette Smoking: An Assessment of Tobacco’s global environmental footprint acrossits entire supply chain, and strategies to reduce it” (2018)
139 F
 AO, “Emissions due to agriculture. Global, regional and country trends 2000-2018", FAOSTAT
Analytical Brief Series. No 18, (2020)140 T he World Counts, “Tons of Freshwater Used” (2021)
141 F
 ood & Agriculture Organization of the United States “Land Statistics: Global, Regional andCountry Trends, 1961-2018” (2018)142 P
 hilip Morris International, “Delivering a Smoke-Free Future: Progress Toward a World without
Cigarettes: Integrated Report | 2019” (2019)143 P
 hilip Morris International, “Delivering a Smoke-Free Future: Progress Toward a World without
Cigarettes: Integrated Report | 2019” (2019)

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

Primary tobacco industry intersections with climate justice

Value chain stage

Cultivating
tobaccoPotential climate justice impacts
Tobacco farming and sourcing may contribute to weakening theecological resilience of land to climate change specifically in the
tobacco-producing countries of the global south.
Impacts from farming on land resilience can be attributed, in part,to weaker agriculture regulations in developing nations and limitedaccess to appropriate farming equipment and research, where
tobacco is an annual crop.

Foresting forcuring tobaccoand tobacco paper

Water consumption
for agriculture andmanufacturing

Potential impacts
on human rights
UDHR 13: Freedom of Movement
UDHR 17: Right to Property
UDHR 23: Right to WorkUDHR 25: Right to an Adequate Standardof Living
UDHR 27: Right to Cultural Participation

As a result, there are risks of depleting the nutrients and organic
matter in the soil, which lowers the resilience of the land to heatand extreme weather events. Ultimately, these risks increase thevulnerability of tobacco farmers who might lose their rights to work,
property, and an adequate standard of living as they recover fromextreme weather events.144

UDHR 28: Right to an Enabling Environmentfor Human Rights & Freedoms

In various countries of the global south, deforestation for tobacco
growing and curing has contributed to shortages of timber forconstruction, deficiencies of fuel wood for cooking, decreased land
resilience, and food insecurity.145 Globally, deforestation is the second
largest anthropogenic source of CO2 in the atmosphere, contributing
to climate change and resulting in the loss of biodiversity, soil
degradation, increased risk of flooding, and other impacts.146

UDHR 17: Right to Property

Deforestation can impact the human freedoms of movement andreligion, and the rights to property, work, adequate standards ofliving, cultural participation, and an enabling environment for therealization of human rights and freedoms.

UDHR 28: Right to an Enabling Environmentfor Human Rights & Freedoms

Water consumption for agriculture irrigation and manufacturingof tobacco products contributes to heightened vulnerability forwater scarcity. Agriculture is the largest water user globally, and amajor source of water pollution due to runoff from pesticide use.147
Tobacco is generally considered a drought-tolerant plant, andirrigating tobacco at different stages of its growth can improve thephysical and chemical nature of the cured leaf.148 However, someirrigation methods are more sustainable than others. Unsustainableagricultural water use practices threaten the resiliency of livelihoods
dependent on water and agriculture. These risks are exacerbated byclimate change, which will limit crop productivity and reduce water
availability in areas where water is most needed.149

UDHR 3: Right to Life & Security of Persons

Agriculture has the greatest environmental impacts relative to otherproduction stages of tobacco, followed by tobacco manufacturing.
Dry Ice Expanded Tobacco treatment, packaging, and tobacco-pulp
processing during cigarette manufacturing consume a significant
amount of water.150 For reference, a 2018 study in the Journalof Environmental Science and Technology on the environmental
impacts of tobacco throughout its supply chain found that global
production of 6 trillion cigarettes consumed 22.2 billion m3 ofwater during tobacco cultivation and 14.72 m3 of water during
manufacturing of filters and cigarette papers.151

UN Resolution 64/292: Right to Water
UN Resolution 48/13: Right to safe, clean,healthy and sustainable environment

UDHR 18: Freedom of Religion
UDHR 23: Right to WorkUDHR 25: Right to an Adequate Standardof Living
UDHR 27: Right to Cultural Participation

UN Resolution 64/292: Right to Water
UN Resolution 48/13: Right to safe, clean,healthy and sustainable environment

UDHR 17: Right to Property
UDHR 23: Right to WorkUDHR 25: Right to an Adequate Standardof Living
UDHR 27: Right to Cultural Participation
UDHR 28: Right to an Enabling Environmentfor Human Rights & Freedoms
UN Resolution 64/292: Right to Water
UN Resolution 48/13: Right to safe, clean,healthy and sustainable environment

At these production stages, the human rights and freedoms
potentially impacted by water consumption for farming andmanufacturing tobacco products include the rights to water, life,
freedom of movement, work, an adequate standard of living, and an
enabling environment that supports the realization of these rights.

144 WHO, “The environmental and health impacts of tobacco agriculture, cigarette manufacture andconsumption” (2015); The Lancet, “Environmental Consequences of Tobacco Production andConsumption” (2019); Kungl Vetenskaps Akadamien, “The environmental externalities of tobacco
manufacturing: A review of tobacco industry reporting” (2020)
145 Tobacco Control, “Environmental health impacts of tobacco farming: a review of the literature” (2012)146 The Lancet, “Environmental Consequences of Tobacco Production and Consumption” (2019)147 The World Bank, “Agriculture holds the key to tackling water scarcity” (2016)

148 The University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, “Irrigating Tobacco”(2012)
149 The World Bank, “Agriculture holds the key to tackling water scarcity” (2016)
150 WHO, “Tobacco” (2017)151 Environmental Science & Technology Journal, “Cigarette Smoking: An Assessment of Tobacco’s Global
Environmental Footprint Across Its Entire Supply Chain” (2018)

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

PMI’S EFFORTS TO DATE
Much still needs to be done on this topic; however, PMI has
already implemented a number of programs toward climate
protection and respect for human rights. The below table showsa summary of PMI’s activities that contribute to climate justiceat the different stages of the tobacco value chain.

PMI’s initiatives toward climate justice152

Value chain stage

Cultivating
tobaccoForesting forcuring tobaccoand tobacco
paper

Water
consumption
for agriculture
andmanufacturing

Environmental impacts

Crop diversification: Supporting
farmers in diversifying their crops
has become an even more importantfocus area for PMI.

Limited deforestation of old
growth forests: As of 2020, 100%of the flue-cured tobacco purchased
is at no risk of deforestation toprimary and protected forests.

Effective irrigation methods:
PMI supports farmers byintroducing effective irrigation
methods, where shared water
challenges are present, such as drip
systems.
Water stewardship in our
manufacturing operations:
In order to use water sustainably
within the watersheds where it
operates, PMI has embraced theAlliance for Water Stewardship(WAS) standard and is implementing
it across its manufacturing
operations, with a target to certify
all factories by 2025.

152 	Philip Morris International, “Delivering a Smoke Free Future: Progress Toward a World without
Cigarettes: Integrated Report | 2019” (2019)153 	Philip Morris International, “Forest Protection: Protecting the Environment” (2021)

Impacts on people

Improving income: Growing andmarketing a range of complementary
crops can improve farm income.
Improving resilience: By diversifying
their crops and engaging in otherincome-generating activities, farmers
are more resilient against climatechange and food security.

Human rights impacted

UDHR 17: Right to Property
UDHR 23: Right to WorkUDHR 25: Right to an Adequate
Standard of Living
UDHR 28: Right to an Enabling
Environment for Human Rights &Freedoms

Improving resilience153: Forests
are critical to regulating climaticconditions and maintaining rainfall
patterns. They absorb carbon dioxideand provide the right conditions
to preserve biodiversity. Forests
contribute substantial economic
value and resilience. Tobacco
farmers, for instance, rely on forests
as an important element in the water
cycle and for soil protection.

UDHR 17: Right to Property

Improving income: Effective
irrigation methods improve farmers’
household income by improving
the efficiencies and savings intheir operations. These save not
only water, but also time and laborcosts, while increasing the yieldand quality of tobacco (and othercomplementary crops) produced.

UN Resolution 64/292: Right to
Water

Improving resilience: In certain
countries, irrigation can play asignificant role in diversification,
allowing farmers to grow crops
during the dry season.

UDHR 18: Freedom of Religion
UDHR 23: Right to WorkUDHR 25: Right to an Adequate
Standard of Living
UDHR 27: Right to Cultural
Participation
UDHR 28: Right to an Enabling
Environment for Human Rights &Freedoms

UDHR 23: Right to WorkUDHR 25: Right to an Adequate
Standard of Living
UDHR 28: Right to an Enabling
Environment for Human Rights &Freedoms

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

THE IMPORTANCE OF
PRIVATE SECTOR LEADERSHIPAs evidenced by millions of youths
taking to the streets and calling for acommensurate response to the climate
emergency, most governments have failed
to take effective action on climate change
and meet the Paris Agreement targets,already considered to be conservativeby environmental advocates.
154

Many governments have not yet enacted sufficient legislation
and regulation that would require businesses to reduce andmitigate their impact on the environment, account for harm
previously committed, and transition to a clean energy andlower emissions future.
“The manifest refusal of leaders to deal with massive inequality stands
in the way of urgently needed climate ambition. We need a justtransition, for workers, their families, and communities at all levels,from the work floor, in economic sectors, at the national level, and at
the global climate negotiations. We need climate justice and a voice atthe table for those most affected by the climate emergency.”155
Private sector leadership can play an important role in bridging
the governance gap and realigning financial incentives with theParis Agreement.156 Businesses are increasingly committing toscience-based energy transition, GHG emissions reduction, anddeforestation targets and transparently reporting on progress,
as well as disclosing their emissions. Many are also taking
leadership positions through individual and collective action in
the fight against climate change and by advocating to influence
government action both to address climate change and regulate
the human rights impacts of business. Through their links withcivil society, businesses can play a role in bringing multiple voices
to the table and integrating rights protection into decisionmaking. Investors are also driving both climate-risk awarenessand sustainability measures through ESG rankings and otherexamples of shareholder activism.157
Businesses can also contribute through innovation or arealignment of their existing products and operations, as shownby agricultural companies adopting regenerative farming
techniques, the repurposing or repowering of old energy plants,
transport fleets, or other assets to run on cleaner natural gas
or biomass, or large technology firms using data and artificial
intelligence to help evince effective solutions and enablecommunities to develop resilience.158 Responsible agriculturalactivities such as nature-based solutions159 or regenerative
agricultural practices160 can contribute positively to local societies,
improve soil health, and result in net carbon capture.
154 Council for Foreign Relations, “Global Climate Agreements: Successes and Failures” (2021)
155 Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Congress, quoted in Oxfam
Media Briefing, “Confronting carbon inequality: Putting climate justice at the heart of the
COVID-19 recovery” (2020)
156 The Financial Times, “How to measure the impact of business decisions on climate change” (2020)
157 The Financial Times, “Big investors’ sustainability push drives demand for sustainability expertise” (2020)
158 National Geographic, “Climate Change—How to Fix It: Businesses”
159 Nature-based Solutions Initiative, “About: What are Nature-based Solutions?”
160 Regeneration International, “Why Regenerative Agriculture?”
161 Institute of Human Rights and Business, “Just Transitions for All: Business, Human Rights andClimate Action” (2020)

Along with efforts to introduce robust responsible sourcing
processes, businesses with complex and diverse supply chainscan encourage the adoption of responsible environmental
practices, including emissions reductions or necessary businessmodel transitions, among their suppliers through sets ofstandards and other capacity-building and support initiatives.
Some of these practices have been driven by increased political
scrutiny of supply chains and the development of new regulations
to encourage responsible social and environmental practices,such as France’s Corporate Duty of Vigilance of 2017 andproposed measures within the EU to introduce mandatory
human rights and environmental due diligence.
However, at the very heart of this is the need for businesses
to understand, through due diligence, how climate change andsustainability measures impact the people associated with theiractivities across the full range of affected stakeholders and toensure that business practices and working conditions contribute toimproved outcomes that account for the reality of a warming planet.
The businesses that take steps to protect workers and communities
from climate insecurity, including those in the supply chain, will
advance human rights principles of justice, inclusion, and equity,
seize on opportunities presented by just transitions, and scale thecollective impact of the fight against climate change. In addition to
the moral imperative, there is a strong business case for companies
to take an aggressive stance on climate change and incorporatea climate justice approach, including the use of an environmental
strategy to build competitive advantage and more resilient, futurefocused supply chains. Opportunities for best practice by businessgoing forward will be explored in the final section of the report.
By using the language and lens of human rights in relation to climate,businesses have the means to take action to mitigate the broad
impacts of both climate change and climate injustice. Businesses
are already obligated under the UNGPs to identify, address, andreport on their human rights impacts. As such, businesses must
“know and show” their impacts on the climate, but the UNGPs also
provide a framework for business-led GHG emission reductions andadvancing rights sensitivity of business approaches to mitigation andadaptation, including through enacting a just transition and providing
access to remedy for victims of business-related human rights
impacts.161 Stakeholder engagement that pays special attention to
the voices of BIPOC, women, and other marginalized groups canhelp to ensure that climate justice is a key consideration in businessdecisions around transitions.

Examples of private sector participationin collective action on climate change• UN Global Compact’s “Business Ambition
for 1.5°C—Our Only Future”• 1% for the Planet• Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change• World Economic Forum’s Climate Change Initiative• We Mean Business Coalition• World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s
Future of Work and Climate Policy Working Groups• B Corp Climate Collective• We Are Still In Coalition• CEO Climate Dialogue

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

OPPORTUNITIES

4Climate Justice Briefing Paper

ADDRESSING THE HUMAN RIGHTSOPPORTUNITIESIMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
The private sector has an important role to play in addressing thehuman rights impacts of climate change. The climate justice perspective
sees human rights and climate change through the same lens.
Without climate justice, businesses’ attempts to tackle climatechange will not be successful. In defining and implementing a
climate strategy, companies should recognize the importanceof climate justice by including it in their materiality analysis,
setting appropriate targets and milestones, and integrating
its principles into their strategy and key decisions associatedwith its implementation. The UNGPs provide a usefulframework for this integration, articulating businesses’
responsibility to respect human rights, including climaterelated rights, through enacting human rights due diligence.
Human rights due diligence asks companies to “know andshow” that they understand their impacts and have put
in place plans to address them, either through mitigationor through providing access to remedy. Businesses mustalso report transparently on this process, as well as engage
meaningfully with stakeholders throughout to ensure they areincorporating the perspectives of the most vulnerable groups.

Companies seeking to improve their performance on climaterelated and human rights issues are often applying separate
frameworks. Approaching the challenge of climate justicethrough the business and human rights lens provides a composite
framework that allows companies to leverage existing knowledge
from within their environmental and human rights teams andcreate synergies for cross-functional, rights-aware decisionmaking. The underlying values of the UNGPs—consultation
with rightsholders, proactive due diligence, focus on mitigating
potential harms, and providing effective remedy—reflectcharacteristics of best practice in both environmental and humanrights functions, and therefore the framework of the UNGPs isused to structure our suggestions. Article One has identified thefollowing opportunities for consideration by businesses seeking
to advance climate justice in their operations and supply chains.
They are informed by a review of best practices, our engagementwith civil society, and our experience advising companies on
how to address climate-related human rights impacts.

IDENTIFYENGAGEREPORT

ADDRESS31

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Climate Justice Briefing Paper

Identify
1. Expand human rights due diligence to include climate-related humanrights impacts. As outlined by the Institute for Human Rights andBusiness and building on the framing provided above, this will “help toassess the distant impacts of greenhouse gases attributable to businessactivities. It can also build understanding of the impacts of climatechange on all those affected by the necessary transition away from a
carbon-based economy, as well as developing greater resilience to theeffects of climate change itself.”162 This will also help businesses withjust transition planning and implementation, and creating opportunities
for mitigating adverse impacts and maximizing opportunities toproactively advance human rights protections and develop resilience forvulnerable groups associated with the business and its supply chain.163
2. Ensure that due diligence includes a targeted focus on womenand other vulnerable groups. In order to address intersectionalrisks, a recent report by the Danish Institute for Human Rights’
advances an understanding of the need to holistically integrate
vulnerabilities into business and human rights frameworks andapproaches to avoid single-issue interpretations of the challenges
facing specific groups, such as women.164 This is particularly
important in the context of climate-related human rights impacts
given the compounding challenges of poverty, conflict, and foodinsecurity often facing vulnerable groups. For example, women play
an important role in agricultural supply chains but low incomes andother challenges mean that they often face significant poverty risks.

3. Companies should undertake detailed mapping exercises toassess the specific vulnerability to climate change and associatedtransitions among disaggregated stakeholder groups connectedto their operations and value chain. This will require meaningful
engagement with these groups and their legitimate representatives,
as well as visibility across all levels of the value chain, in order
to assess those vulnerable to sea-level rise, extreme weather(including heat), and biodiversity loss. This information will help
to inform a climate justice engagement strategy, prioritizing thesegroups for programs that address inequities and build resilience.
4. Review external spending through a climate justice lens in order toensure that political activities, public policy advocacy, and marketing
do not contradict the company’s stated climate ambitions or deny orpropagate misinformation relating to climate change.165 The dichotomy
of companies committing to ambitious green practices but making
external spending commitments to individuals or groups that act
to obstruct proactive climate policy is increasingly recognized asundermining the value of corporate action on climate change.166

162 IHRB, “Just Transitions for All: Business, Human Rights, and Climate Action” (2020)
163 	IHRB, “Just Transitions for All: Business, Human Rights, and Climate Action” (2020) and Mary
Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice, “Mary Robinson addresses UN Forum on Business andHuman Rights” (2013)164 	The Danish Institute for Human Rights, “Addressing the Gender Dimension of Business andHuman Rights” (2021)
165 	MSNBC, “Fox host Tucker Carlson’s comments on Biden’s marriage, explained” (2021)
166 	Bloomberg Green, “American Politicians Who Vote Against Climate Get More Corporate Cash”(2020)

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

Address
1. Develop a set of climate justice principles, or commit to an existing
public framework, and integrate these principles across the business,particularly the work of sustainability teams. There are a numberof existing climate justice and just transition frameworks (see box),
and several organizations have recently focused on the opportunity
presented in the aftermath of COVID-19 to incorporate ideals ofjustice and sustainability into the economic system.167 Alongside policy
commitments and environmental sustainability targets, climate justiceprinciples can provide a roadmap or set of requirements for the businessthat incorporate human rights into all facets of sustainability work.
This should include commitments to mitigate negative climate impacts,
engage stakeholders, incorporate justice into business model and supply
chain transitions, and build resilience in the face of climate risks.168
Examples of existing roadmaps toward climate justice,just transitions, and building back better:	Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice’s
Principles for Climate Justice	Bali Principles of Climate Justice	Climate Justice Alliance’s Environmental JusticePrinciples and Just Transition Principles	Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics
	Just Transition Centre’s Report for the OECD on Just Transition
	ILO’s Guidelines for a just transition towards environmentally
sustainable economies and societies for all	350.org’s Principles for a #JustRecovery	Wellbeing Economy Alliance’s
10 Principles to Build Back Better

4. Commit to living incomes in the supply chain, starting with anassessment study to understand current wage practices and where
gaps exist in meeting living incomes. Increased incomes in the
supply chain will improve financial and food security for farmers
and supply chain workers, leading to immediate improvements inclimate resilience. In the medium term, living incomes will improveadaptability to supply chain and workforce transitions and increase
scope for skills development. The long-term benefits of living
incomes include contribution to country-level GDP; at scale,this will improve the abilities of low-income countries to adapt
to climate change mitigation measures, such as carbon taxes.
5. Facilitate access to remedy for climate-related human rights
impacts, in line with the UN Guiding Principles. Companies should
ensure that they have effective grievance and remedy mechanisms
in place for reporting climate-related human rights impacts they may
have caused or contributed to. While a complex topic, businesses
should investigate ways to account for historic emissions to thegreatest extent possible and collaborate with peers to explore
opportunities to contribute toward remedy, such as investing in
renewable energy, sequestration, reforestation, independent climate
research and mitigation measures etc. For example, in 2020, Google
took the historic step of offsetting its carbon legacy from start of its
own operations in 1998 to 2007, when it became carbon neutral.171
For impacts in which a company is directly linked, such as GHG
emissions in the supply chain, the company should use leverage to seekthat the impacts be mitigated. Examples of remediation in the supply
chain include the opportunities above, such as supporting impacted
groups for adaptation,172 climate-related disaster risk reduction,
reducing gaps in resource allocation, and facilitating just transitions
for supply chain workers and their communities. In the face of extreme
weather events, this could also include supporting in the provision ofcompensation, food, and other resources or help with relocation.

	Capital Institute’s Eight Principles for a Regenerative Economy
	Friends of the Earth’s Principles for a Just Recovery	Stockholm Environment Institute’s Seven principles torealize a just transition to a low-carbon economy	Institute for Human Rights and Business’ Just Transitions
for All—Business, Human Rights, and Climate Action

2. Work with suppliers and business partners to address value chain
contributions to climate change. Climate justice is a powerful lensthat can strengthen existing efforts to address climate change withinvalue chains.169 Businesses should build on existing initiatives within
the supply chain to reduce emissions and deforestation, provide
access to information, funding, and resources to support these
efforts, and ensure stakeholder perspectives are incorporated.
3. Support the efforts of frontline communities and impacted
stakeholders to adapt and develop climate resilience. Thisapproach should be informed by the assessment of the holistic
vulnerabilities of stakeholder groups to climate change (opportunity
3) and based on a detailed understanding of context and needs
generated through engagement. Examples could include skills
development, regenerative farming and agroforestry techniques,support for healthy ecosystems, crop diversification, and infrastructuredevelopment. Businesses should also support communities in theirvalue chains toward expanding climate justice and partner with localorganizations with expertise in climate resilience. And in accordancewith recent guidance from International Alert, gender and security
should be integrated into any climate adaptation measures.170

167 	B Lab and Partners, “The Climate Justice Playbook for Business:
How to Centre Climate Action in Climate Justice” (2021)
168 	Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice, “Mary Robinson addresses
UN Forum on Business and Human Rights” (2013)
169 	B Lab and Partners, “The Climate Justice Playbook for Business:
How to Centre Climate Action in Climate Justice” (2021)
170 	International Alert, “Integrating gender and security in climate adaptation”, (2021)
171 	Google, “Our third decade of climate action: Realizing a carbon-free future”, (2020)172 	Mary Robinson Foundation—Climate Justice, “Mary Robinson addresses
UN Forum on Business and Human Rights” (2013)

33

34

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

OPPORTUNITIES continued

Engage1. Ensure that stakeholder voices are reflected in the company’s
approaches to sustainability, resilience, and adaptation in ameaningful way. Solutions that address disproportionate harm anddisparities by incorporating grassroots perspectives, including thoseof the most vulnerable, will be both more equitable and more effective.
This can also include ensuring access to information about climatechange and business transitions.173 Businesses should engage withclimate justice experts and center the voices of those individuals andcommunities who have experienced climate change impacts. As put
forward in the recent Climate Justice Playbook published by B Lab,
this can include providing paid opportunities to lead and/or participate
in company trainings, events, and conferences, offering remunerated
features in newsletters or social media, funding their work directly,
and creating positions on advisory committees or project teams.174
2. Uplift and support frontline climate change solutions,which serves as both an opportunity to engage stakeholders andcontribute to remedy. While vulnerable communities unjustly bear
the brunt of climate change impacts, they also create and pursue
innovative climate solutions. However, frontline communities often
lack the resources necessary to sustain or scale their initiatives.
Businesses are uniquely positioned to uplift, support, and collaborate
with these frontline communities. One example of frontline climate
solutions are the reforestation efforts of indigenous communities
in the Peruvian Amazon. According to the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations, “many indigenous territories
prevent deforestation as well or better than other protected areas.”175
3. Advance climate justice awareness with stakeholder groups.
Create awareness about climate change within the organization
and at all levels of the value chain, including proximate communities
and customers, and incorporate a climate justice lens focused onincreasing resilience. This outreach can take place where you primarily
operate, in the locations of your suppliers and their communities,
and/or where your products are regularly being used.176 Ensure that
education materials are accessible and available in all local languages.

4. Seek opportunities to partner with the public sector and advocate
for accountable governance, as well as transformative climatechange and just transition policy. Furthermore, as describedin the Climate Justice Playbook, climate justice intersects witha number of other public policy issues including health, energy,
environmental, and agricultural policy.177 The Institute for Human
Rights and Business noted that there is scope for businesses tohave significant positive impact through public policy partnerships,
including through working with civil society and others “to prevent
climate responses from triggering rollback of civil and politicalrights protections; and they can champion human rights as partof public policy processes associated with just transition.”178
5. Pursue opportunities to collaborate on climate justice throughmulti-stakeholder initiatives and forums. Engaging with aligned
businesses and civil society on climate justice projects and broader
efforts to tackle climate change will help scale up efforts for greater
impact.179 Businesses should use their positions of influence within
their sector and along their supply chains to ensure that approaches
to sustainability that incorporate climate justice become the norm.
Companies can also encourage peers to focus on the role of businessand human rights frameworks in integrating these efforts.

173 	 IHRB, “Just Transitions for All: Business, Human Rights, and Climate Action” (2020)
174 	B Lab and Partners, “The Climate Justice Playbook for Business: How
to Centre Climate Action in Climate Justice” (2021)
175 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “Forest
Governance by Indigenous and Tribal Peoples” (2021)
176 B Lab and Partners, “The Climate Justice Playbook for Business: How
to Centre Climate Action in Climate Justice” (2021)
177 B Lab and Partners, “The Climate Justice Playbook for Business: How
to Centre Climate Action in Climate Justice” (2021)
178 IHRB, “Just Transitions for All: Business, Human Rights, and Climate Action” (2020)
179 B Lab and Partners, “The Climate Justice Playbook for Business: How
to Centre Climate Action in Climate Justice” (2021)

Climate Justice Briefing Paper

Report
1. Commit to collecting data and reporting transparently on thecompany’s GHG emissions in scopes 1+2+3 of operations andsupply chain. Using the CDP frameworks and self-reporting, work to
expand the disaggregation of data where possible by activity, product,commodity, and geographic location. A powerful recent example
of corporate transparency was Veja’s public statement on its CO2
emissions.180 While there is currently no standard reporting framework
to aid in this process, companies might also wish to report transparently
on efforts to account for historic emissions and work with external
partners to improve on data collection and accounting methodologies.
2. Set transformative science-based climate targets, disclose
strategies on how to achieve them, and report on progress.
Businesses should set science-based targets to reduce emissions anddeforestation, switch to renewable energy and sustainably sourced
fuels, and achieve carbon neutrality. Businesses should also reporttransparently on strategies and progress in achieving their targets.
Tying executive pay to progress on meeting targets could be aneffective way to ensure accountability. For example, Mars recently
announced that it has linked executive pay to cutting GHG emissions.181

3. Share progress, including learnings and materials, on implementing
a strategic approach to climate justice and integrating principles into
operations. Businesses should collaborate and share both learnings andinternal materials (such as tools or resources) with peers to address thecomplex and intersectional barriers to climate justice. This collaboration
could stimulate private sector momentum toward mitigating climatechange impacts and level-set among peers and competitors.

“Collect data and reporttransparently on the company’s
GHG emissions in scopes 1+2+3
of operations and supply chain.”

180 Veja, “CO2 Emissions”
181 The Guardian, “‘Greta is right’: climate pledges must be matched by action, say Mars executives” (2021).

35

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