On 22 September 2014, the International Bar’s Association task force on Climate Change Justice and Human Rights released its new report Achieving Justice and Human Rights in an Era of Climate Disruption in the wake of the UN Climate Summit 2014.

The Report can be consulted here. 

The publication of the report marks the end of a research effort initiated in November 2012 and constitutes an important recognition by the global legal profession that climate change has an important human rights dimension. It presents a comprehensive survey of existing legal frameworks relevant to climate change, and identifies, using a justice-centred perspective, opportunities for legal reforms.

The report concludes with recommendations structured under the categories (i) legal measures, (iii) capacity building and transparency, and (iii) institutional measures.  The report, and by extension its recommendations, will be a useful read for anyone interested or active in the field of climate change justice and human rights.

Gauthier van Thuyne, head of the Belgian and EU Environmental and Regulatory Law Group and co-head of the Human Rights Interest Group of Allen & Overy, was a member of the task force on Climate Change Justice and Human Rights.