On September 30, 2025 and after a years-long participatory process, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) issued General Comment 27, where it discusses the environmental dimension of sustainable development. General comments by the treaty bodies of the UN core human rights treaties provide official guidance and interpretation on the scope of States’ obligations under international human rights law. They are therefore an essential tool for advocates claiming rights and seeking to hold States accountable for their human rights’ duties.
From its opening sentence, General Comment 27 stresses the inextricable linkage between the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and the realization of economic, social and cultural rights, stating that “a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is an essential precondition for the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.” It also draws attention to the connection between environmental justice and sustainable development, pointing out persisting structural inequalities such as “unequal access to natural resources, land, and public goods and services,” which continue to obstruct sustainability.
The Committee underscores that failing to confront these inequities not only violates the rights of people living today but also endangers the dignity and survival of future generations. Protecting environmental integrity is therefore both a duty to current populations and an obligation to ensure that future generations can enjoy the same economic, social and cultural rights without facing irreversible ecological loss.
We welcome the Committee’s unequivocal acknowledgment that the climate crisis constitutes a grave violation of economic, social, and cultural rights, a crisis rooted in the prevailing global economic system which is fundamentally driven by exploitation. We also commend the Committee's emphasis on the legal obligation to provide effective remedy and reparation for climate-related harms.
As the Comment clearly dictates, “Where Covenant rights are violated due to environmental degradation, States parties must ensure access to timely, affordable, and effective judicial and non-judicial remedies, providing victims with access to reparation, including restitution, compensation, satisfaction, and guarantees of non-repetition.” This statement aligns directly with CESR’s recent efforts calling for climate reparations for Global South states disproportionately suffering from the rollback of ESCR rights due to the climate crisis.
The CESCR also took the opportunity to explain that in a context of environmental degradation and in light of their duty to mobilize the maximum available resources, States must use fiscal policies to incentivize sustainable development, support a just transition to low-carbon economies, and protect low-income households from increased costs during this transition. Some fiscal measures States should take in this regard include combating tax evasion, tax avoidance and corruption, and strengthening progressive tax systems.
You can read the General Comment here.