Securing a sustainable energy future necessitates the preservation of natural resources, water, and food.
Elisa Morgera, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, has emphasized the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels as a core priority to protect human rights and ensure a rights-respecting energy transition.
Morgera, who took on the role in 2024, has produced three thematic reports since then, including one on the need to "defossilise" our economies. She underscores that fossil fuels are the primary cause of climate change and broader planetary crises like biodiversity loss and mass human rights violations, establishing a clear international human rights obligation to defossilize economies within this decade.
Her key priorities and recommendations include:
- Phasing out fossil fuels: Morgera advocates for a complete and rapid phase-out of fossil fuels by the end of the decade. National legislation needs to provide a clear direction that fossil fuels are no longer a viable sector, and companies need to clarify their responsibilities to phase out fossil fuels.
- Criminalizing fossil fuel disinformation: Morgera suggests criminalizing fossil fuel disinformation and banning fossil fuel advertising and lobbying to prevent misinformation that obstructs climate action and harms human rights.
- Prioritizing climate solutions based on their effectiveness in protecting human rights: Morgera emphasizes the importance of prioritizing climate solutions that are backed by scientific evidence and human rights law, rather than political or economic convenience.
- Ensuring a just, fair, equitable, and inclusive energy transition: Morgera stresses the need to create decent work opportunities while protecting communities affected by fossil fuel extraction and use.
- Continuous monitoring and accountability mechanisms: Morgera advocates for continuous monitoring and accountability mechanisms for fossil fuel phase-out progress, to maintain legitimacy in international climate governance like COP meetings.
- Promoting co-development of knowledge and solutions: Morgera encourages the involvement of human rights institutions, indigenous and local knowledge holders, and fair partnerships and equitable sharing of benefits and burdens globally.
- Addressing historical responsibilities and current injustices: Morgera highlights the need to address historical responsibilities and current injustices linked to fossil fuel production and climate change impacts, which disproportionately affect vulnerable populations and future generations.
In her recent visit to the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, Morgera reported on climate and human-rights action. She also emphasized the need to monitor progress in phasing out fossil fuels at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil. Another report by Morgera, on a human rights-based approach to renewables, including critical minerals, is in the works.
Morgera's approach links human rights protection explicitly with climate change mitigation, advocating for a rights-based, science-backed, and justice-centered approach that emphasizes the importance of phasing out fossil fuels, banning related disinformation, empowering affected communities, and embedding fairness and accountability throughout the transition process.
- Elisa Morgera, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on climate change, calls for the phase-out of fossil fuels as a key strategy to combat climate change and protect human rights.
- In her role, Morgera has produced reports emphasizing the need to "defossilize" economies and transition towards renewable energy sources.
- Fossil fuels, according to Morgera, are the primary cause of climate change and broader crises, such as biodiversity loss and mass human rights violations.
- Morgera advocates for the criminalization of fossil fuel disinformation and banning of fossil fuel advertising and lobbying to prevent obstruction of climate action.
- The Special Rapporteur emphasizes the importance of prioritizing climate solutions based on their effectiveness in protecting human rights and backed by scientific evidence.
- Morgera stresses the need for a just, fair, equitable, and inclusive energy transition that creates decent work opportunities and protects communities affected by fossil fuel extraction.
- She advocates for continuous monitoring and accountability mechanisms to maintain legitimacy in international climate governance, such as COP meetings.
- During a recent visit to Vanuatu, Morgera reported on climate and human-rights action and emphasized the need to monitor progress in phasing out fossil fuels at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil.
- Morgera's approach involves linking human rights protection explicitly with climate change mitigation, advocating for a rights-based, science-backed, and justice-centered approach that embeds fairness and accountability throughout the energy transition process.
