Human rights on a warming Earth (2025)
Discover how climate change impacts human rights in Australia and urgent actions needed from government and business to protect vulnerable communities.
Summary
This report describes the connection between climate change and human rights and outlines the critical importance of addressing climate change to protect people’s rights in Australia.
The evidence on the extreme threat to humans posed by climate change is clear. By focussing on the human rights impact, we can focus on the action governments and business must take to protect current and future Australians.
People’s rights to life, health, housing, food and water are not luxuries. They are legal obligations that Australia has committed to uphold under international law. In the face of climate change, these rights are increasingly under threat.
Human rights on a warming Earth
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Executive summary
Get an overview of the report and recommendations
Overview
The evidence on the human threat posed by climate change is clear. The planet is getting hotter. Seas are rising. Rainfall patterns are changing. In Australia, our bushfire seasons are getting longer and more dangerous. The risk of drought, floods and heatwaves is increasing.
Climate change directly threatens our human rights to life, health, a healthy environment, housing, food, water and work. The message of the report is clear: if we want to protect our quality of life, we must address climate change with greater urgency.
The report outlines:
- the human rights affected by climate change
- Australia’s human rights and climate change obligations
- our legislative framework
- climate legal action
- the role of national human rights institutions.
Recommendations
The report makes 7 recommendations to the Australian Government and businesses. They outline how the Australian Government should:
- adopt and enforce laws to phase out fossil fuels, prohibit new fossil fuel projects and strictly regulate the import and export of fossil fuels
- end fossil fuel subsidies
- undertake stringent due diligence to identify and assess serious climate and human rights risks
- enact a national Human Rights Act.
The report recommends that businesses should reduce emissions across operations and supply chains and disclose climate risks.
Fossil fuel companies should urgently plan to phase out operations, fund worker retraining and site closure and clean-up.
The pace at which we cut climate pollution from fossil fuels will determine how dangerous the future is.
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- Media release: Urgent action on climate change essential for human rights
- Climate change and human rights - an explainer
