The gradual phase

Residents living near a coal plant in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria, breathe such toxic air that they describe themselves as prisoners in their own homes. In Louisiana, communities along the petrochemical corridor known as “Cancer Alley” face some of the highest cancer rates in the United States. In Uganda and Tanzania, activists opposed to the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) have been arrested and criminally charged for speaking out against fossil fuel expansion. These are not abstract statistics but real problems related to human rights and fossil fuel production.

Yet, as more than 50 governments gather this week in Santa Marta, Colombia, for the first international conference on energy transition and phasing out fossil fuels, human rights issues are conspicuously absent from the agenda.

The conference, co-hosted by Colombia and the Netherlands, comes at a critical time. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that our dependence on fossil fuels destabilizes both the climate and global security, making a just transition urgently necessary. The recent COP26 climate conference also ended without a decision on fossil fuels, despite calls from over 80 countries for a roadmap towards their gradual elimination.

This week’s meeting is expected to accelerate progress on the transition. However, it must not overlook human rights as a secondary consideration.

The burning of fossil fuels is a major contributor to air pollution, identified by the World Health Organization as the greatest threat to human health globally, causing approximately seven million deaths each year. Putting rights at risk neglects communities already suffering from the extraction of fossil fuels and its devastating effects.

The International Court of Justice has clearly established that states have a legal obligation to protect the climate system. Santa Marta should translate these obligations into concrete actions. Failing to phase out fossil fuels gradually undermines the rights to life, health, food, water, and housing for people worldwide.

Governments gathered in Santa Marta must ensure that the transition away from fossil fuels is based on human rights law and takes into account the contributions of the most vulnerable communities to help craft gradual exit strategies. For the conference to be successful, the most vulnerable communities should finally see their rights and health protected.