Participants: Brice Lalonde (UN Global Compact), Volker Türk (UNHCR), Mary Robinson (President of Mary Robinson Foundation & Former President of Ireland), Marine Franck (UNHCR), Didier Terrolle (Sanofi), Pascale Guiffant (Suez Environnement), Philip Bloomer (Business & Human Rights Resource Centre).

Mr. Lalonde opened the conference by addressing the impacts of climate change on the human rights, their dire consequences on societies, as well as on businesses and their supply chains. Initiatives such as the UN Global Compact demonstrate a growing responsibility from the corporate sector to address these issues. Any action to address climate change should be the result of a careful work to protect and respect human rights, not further undermine them...Mrs. Robinson...[said]...businesses can be efficient actors in managing climate risk, building resilience, and ultimately secure climate justice. To that extend, they need to show leadership, responsibility, and transparence...According to Philip Bloomer, the main question is not to know if the transition will happen or not, but if it will be a fair process. On the subject of climate justice, many actors suffer from the classification of issues: climate change and human rights are perceived as two separate topics, making it harder to solve problems linked to both topics or allowing them to clash with each other. A move towards renewable energies is essential for a sustainable growth, but many projects of windfarm or hydroelectric dams are linked to human rights abuses, for example in Mexico or in Brazil. Solving the issues of climate change must not come at the expense of the rights of communities and workers...According to Pascale Guiffant, the private sector is already very organized on climate change issues and pushing for more awareness. Assessing companies impacts on society demonstrates that their action can already be positive. For example, while implementing waste management solutions in Morocco, Suez not only provided technical solutions, but also worked in partnership with local waste keepers to structure and legitimate their own activity....There is a growing need for “informed projects”, looking not only to reduce impact on the environment, but their own impact on populations and societies as well, and beneficiating from having a bigger picture.