With the Paris Conference of Parties (COP) about to take place and the world trying to come to an agreement on how to cap our carbon emissions, the campaign to phase out coal -- the single largest source of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide -- has been continually gaining ground.

But the issue of coal is as much about the human rights of the individuals and communities affected by coal operations as it is about the environment. And it is as much about ensuring accountability for violations of these rights as it is about making sure that we keep to our 2 degree Celsius limit.

In this project, we look at coal in four countries -- India, Colombia, South Africa, and Egypt --through a human rights lens. We focus on the Global South, where coal use and production are increasing despite the opposite trend in much of the Global North.

Dejusticia and Business & Human Rights Resource Centre release a report, a documentary and a blog series in our attempt to contribute to a greater understanding of the coal industry and how countries can better articulate their COP 21 commitments after Paris.

[Full report refers to Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Cerrejón Coal (joint venture Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Glencore), Coal India (CIL), Coal of Africa, Drummond, Engie (formerly GDF Suez), Eskom, Glencore, Goldman Sachs, LafargeHolcim, Peabody Energy, Prodeco (part of Glencore), Reliance Energy (part of Reliance ADA), Sasol, Tata Group, Colombian Natural Resources (was part of Goldman Sachs, now part of Murray Energy), CESC (part of RPG Group), Welspun Energy (part of Welspun Group), Reliance Energy (part of Reliance ADA), Damodar Valley Corp., Udupi Power (part of Adani Power), Tata Mundra (part of Tata Power), LaFarge (now LafargeHolcim), ItaliCementi, Misr-Beni Suef, Misr-Quena, Asuit Cement (part of Cemex), El Ammriya Cemen, Titan Cement, Al Sweedy for Cement, South-Valley for Cement, National Cement (Egypt), Arabian Cement. Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Cerrejon coal to respond; the response is provided below.]