Climate change may constitute the most serious challenge to the fulfillment of human rights in our world today.

Eight years of Human Rights Council work on climate issues and a string of dedicated resolutions have established the clear recognition that changes in the climate do undermine a range of internationally-protected human rights...Human rights known to be undermined by the effects of climate change include access to water, rights to food, to health, to housing, and to a healthy environment, and even the to self-determination and to life...Any new agreement should of course uphold human rights–which is no small feat. Increasing numbers of states also see human rights as a means of improving the design and implementation of policies that will enable the Paris deal’s effective realization.