February 2025: Opportunity Green responds to the UN Special Rapporteur on climate change’s call for inputs on the fossil fuel-based economy and human rights, highlighting the critical need to address the shipping and aviation sectors.

Opportunity Green's submission will inform the Special Rapporteur’s thematic report to be presented at the Human Rights Council 59th session and calls for a just transition for the aviation and shipping sectors to protect human rights and meet climate goals. It points to these sectors’ limitations and suggests opportunities for global climate action through collective and individual efforts, such as implementing fuel taxes and levies and working effectively under the Paris Agreement framework to account for emissions and adopt mitigation measures.

The submission argues these strategies could contribute to loss and damage funding and reduce emissions in line with international obligations, therefore supporting human rights and the just transition.

The window to secure a liveable and sustainable future is closing as climate change is already causing widespread harm to both people and nature. Rising global temperatures hinder the enjoyment of fundamental human rights, as highlighted by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of KlimaSeniorinnen, which found that states must protect individuals from the severe effects of the climate crisis on their lives, health and wellbeing.

The aviation and shipping industries represent two major global emitters who rely heavily on the fossil-fuel industry to support their harmful activities and who therefore contribute significantly to this human rights crisis. These sectors have traditionally enjoyed tax privileges, limiting the incentive to decarbonise their activities.

The regulation of international emissions from these sectors remains weak, with current policies placing international aviation and shipping on unsustainable warming pathways, far beyond the 1.5°C guardrail. The Paris Agreement mandates states to address emissions across all sectors, including international aviation and shipping, yet states are failing to include aviation and shipping emissions in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Efforts by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to decarbonise shipping show some progress, as negotiations for a global fuel standards and levies are ongoing, while the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has taken minimal action, adopting limited and inadequate climate measures.

Read the full submission here: