My thanks to the distinguished Justices and to their Courts for organizing and supporting this day on justice, climate and human rights at COP 30.
In particular, my thanks go to the Supreme Constitutional Court and the National Judicial Council, represented by Chief Justice and President Edson Fachin. And to the National High Court of Justice, represented by Chief Justice Antonio Herman Benjamin, who is also Chair of the Global Judicial Institute on the Environment and a close collaborator of UNEP any my dear friend -- for decades.
Excellencies and colleagues,
There can be no doubt that climate change already has massive impacts on human rights, humanitarian needs, welfare and dignity particularly for those in vulnerable and marginalized situations. Unfortunately, worse is to come. UNEPs Emissions Gap Report 2025 finds that, under current policies, global warming is projected to reach approximately 2.8C above pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. Even if new and existing Nationally Determined Contributions are fully implemented, temperatures are still expected to rise by 2.3-2.5C.
Current and future temperatures mean that developing nations need to be supported to adapt to the impacts of climate change. This is a matter of climate justice. But the finance they need is not coming. UNEPs Adaptation Gap Report 2025 finds that the adaptation finance needs of developing countries will be US$310 to US$365 billion per year by 2035. But international public adaptation finance from developed to developing countries fell from US$28 billion in 2022 to US$26 billion in 2023. There is a yawning finance gap.
The result is that we are seeing the impacts of climate change in real time. The poor and vulnerable are dying. Livelihoods are being damaged. Homes are being destroyed. Biodiversity loss, desertification and land degradation, and pollution and waste, add to and amplify these impacts. And many people who are trying to fight back against the loss of their lands and environmental rights are being killed. Global Witness has documented over 2,200 killings or long-term disappearances of environmental defenders since 2012 146 of them in 2024, the majority of them from this region.
The human right to a healthy environment is not being fulfilled. Climate justice for everyone remains a dream. But we can turn this dream into reality by leaning into climate justice and environmental rule of law as cornerstones of international climate responses.
Climate justice is not an add-on but a foundational principle of the Paris Agreement. Environmental rule of law holds, at its heart, the principles of justice, accountability and fairness which are essential to develop a framework to address systemic inequalities and ensure everyone is protected in face of environmental challenges.
Excellencies, we do increasingly have the international architecture in place to make fast progress on climate justice and environmental law.
The Paris Agreement was the first treaty under the global climate regime to mention climate justice as a concept, while recognizing human rights.
The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment has been recognized by the UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council and is increasingly found in multilateral frameworks and instruments around the world.
165 countries recognize the right through their constitutions, international or regional treaties and legislation although they must fully implement this right to truly empower action and protect environmental defenders and Indigenous Peoples from persecution.
The very fact that the international architecture is there has enabled many people to take climate change into the courtrooms making them a central venue for addressing climate change and accelerating adoption and implementation of ambitious mitigation and adaptation strategies.
The fourth edition of UNEPs Global Climate Litigation Report identifies 3,099 climate change cases filed in 55 jurisdictions and 24 international or regional courts, tribunals, quasi-judicial bodies and other bodies as of June 2025. Thats a tidal wave of change.
Climate harms are increasingly being viewed as breaches of rights, duties and laws. Recent climate decisions in courtrooms across Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, the Pacific and Africa encapsulate the central dimensions of evolving climate jurisprudence, such as loss and damage, mitigation and intergenerational justice.
Equally important, climate cases are no longer confined to national boundaries.
Climate cases are, in fact, playing a pivotal role in constructing transnational narratives, empowering grassroots movements and mobilizing new constituencies.
The landmark advisory opinions delivered in the last two years by the International Court of Justice , the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights have taken this story from national court rooms to the international level. And we also see the African Court on Human and Peoples Rights planning its own advisory opinion. Judges are working globally.
The ICJ Advisory Opinion, delivered in July 2025, is particularly significant, as it clarified that States have legal obligations to mitigate and adapt to climate change grounded not only in climate change treaties, but in customary international law and human rights law, extending this liability to the actions of private actors within the States jurisdiction. It is hard to understate the importance of this opinion.
Combined with the opinions of ITLOS and the Inter American Court of Human Rights, there is now an authoritative interpretation of existing international and regional legal frameworks on climate change and human rights. Together, these rulings are expanding the legal foundation for climate action, deepening accountability, and strengthening the applicability of international law.
Another recent UNEP report that looked across thirty jurisdictions, including international and regional human rights bodies, found that courts have reaffirmed the centrality of the climate system for the recognition and sustenance of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
Excellencies, there is no doubt that we are moving forward. But we need to do so much more.
We need environmental law innovations that reflect the networked and inclusive multilateralism that the UN Secretary-General has called for and that the world urgently needs. We need a global acceleration of environmental rule of law. We need laws that are effective, inclusive, participatory, rights-based and capable of facilitating a just transition to greener industries. Above all, these laws must be implemented.
Judges and the courts will undoubtedly have an ever-more prominent role in addressing climate change in the future. So, I ask you to work with UNEP to accelerate the environmental rule of law and climate justice.
UNEP remains dedicated to promoting effective environmental and climate adjudication. UNEPs Montevideo Environmental Law Programme is committed to developing and advancing the environmental rule of law, working closely with States, judges, prosecutors, parliamentarians, lawyers and others.
All our networks will be crucial. All our knowledge will be crucial. We must work together. Because billions of people around the world are crying out for climate justice and for their environmental rights. And you can help deliver it to them.
