This blog is one of a series that illustrate how climate change relates to policy areas covered by each subject committee.
With a remit covering equalities, human rights and civil justice the work of the committee covers many areas related to cutting emissions and adapting to a changing climate. This blog highlights some of these connections and includes issues relating to access to justice and participation in decision making. A parallel blog considers links between the application of civil law and climate change by providing examples of litigation and considering the operation of the civil justice system.
This blog draws on responses to a call made through the Scottish Parliament Academic Network (SPAN) on these issues.
Human rights and climate
The Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) states that ‘Human rights and a healthy environment are interdependent’. The SHRC note that the right to a healthy environment includes what are commonly referred to as substantive rights (e.g. clean air, a safe climate) and procedural rights (e.g. participation in decision-making, access to justice and access to environmental information related to the environment). The human right to a healthy environment was recognised by the United Nations General Assembly in 2022. Recent research by Associate Professor de Vilchez and Professor Savaresi highlights that the right to a healthy environment has been enshrined in national law in over 150 states.
As part of their consultation on a Human Rights Bill for Scotland in 2023 the Scottish Government proposed that the Bill would introduce a new right to a healthy environment and that this will:
‘…help us place the environment at the heart of our decisions so that the environment we create for ourselves, and for people in the future, is one where human rights can still be realised. By building this right into the Bill we will help to deliver a safer climate, healthier ecosystems and biospheres, and reduce the number of toxic materials released into our environment.’
The Scottish Government did not include this Bill in their Programme for Government 2024-25, citing constraints in the devolution settlement that limit their ability to legislate in a way that they would wish to in this area. In October 2024 the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee explored these issues in detail with stakeholders and the Scottish Government. SPICe has published a blog summarising the background to the decision, what the reaction has been and what might happen next.
In Scotland the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) continue to advocate for an ‘enforceable right to a healthy environment to be fully implemented and realised in Scots law’.
Procedural rights – participation in decision making and access to justice
Another element of rights-based considerations in climate policy relates to decision-making and engagement processes. This encompasses how affected individuals and communities are:
- Engaged in designing and implementing measures and policies aimed at both cutting emissions and adapting to the impacts of climate change.
- Able to effectively exercise their environmental rights and access environmental justice (defined in the Cambridge Dictionary as ‘the idea that all groups of people deserve to live in a clean and safe environment’).
Concerns expressed about the first of these include weaknesses in how engaged and represented specific groups are. For example the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland highlights a ‘lack of participation and engagement of children and young people in climate focused areas of policy and law’. Research undertaken by academics at the University of Dundee Just Transition Hub on sustainable citizen decision making concludes that:
‘People living in marginalised communities are underrepresented in public assemblies and debates about the transition and in circular economy Sustainable Citizen Decision-Making activities…When present, marginalised groups may not have a voice, in contrast to participants from higher-income backgrounds.’
Initiatives that seek to strengthen engagement and participation of diverse communities in Scotland in projects that seek to reduce emissions include the Glasgow as a Living Lab Accelerating Novel Transformation (GALLANT) project led by the University of Glasgow.
Difficulties for individuals and communities accessing environmental justice, include their ability to seek redress through the legal system. One example relates to meeting provisions set out in the Aarhus Convention (formally known as the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters). The Convention is an international treaty and is ratified by the UK. The treaty enshrines rights to access administrative or judicial procedures to challenge breaches of national environmental laws and requires these procedures to be ‘fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive’. Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) note that ‘Scotland has been found to be in breach of the Aarhus Convention in ten consecutive findings since 2014…’ One aspect of this breach relates to the Scottish legal system being prohibitively expensive with regards to accessing justice on environmental issues.
In 2023 the Scottish Government consulted on the effectiveness of environmental governance arrangements. In the document the Scottish Government states that it is committed to ‘ensuring compliance with the terms of the Aarhus Convention’ and that it ‘does not see any strong argument for major reforms to the system of justice on environmental matters’.
In their Statement on the Effectiveness of Environmental Governance Arrangements to the Scottish Parliament in November 2024 the Scottish Government stated that it will:
‘…continue to work to improve access to justice on environmental matters. We will carry out further engagement with stakeholders on our approach to environmental rights….’
In November 2024 the UK Government submitted their Final Progress Report to the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee which is responsible for enforcement of the Aarhus Convention. This report is in response to the Compliance Committee identifying areas where the UK is in breach of the obligations under the Convention. This UK submission incorporates the Scottish Government’s response to recommendations made by the Compliance Committee relating to provisions for access to justice and participation in decision making in Scotland.  The Compliance Committee is due to consider this at their meeting in November 2025. The Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee explored Scotland’s compliance with the Aarhus Convention in November 2024.  Alongside the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee is seeking to hold a chamber debate on the Aarhus Convention and access to environmental justice in spring this year.
Differential impacts
Links between equality and climate relate to how individuals, communities or specific groups of society are affected by climate change – or policies to cut emissions – at a global, national or local level. There are many dimensions to inequality and these include geography (local, national or international), gender, age, intergenerational, poverty and disability.
In terms of global geographical inequality a blog published by Catriona Flesher for the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures highlights that:
‘Anywhere in the world can experience ‘loss and damage’ due to climate change, but it is countries in the Global South, particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS), who experience losses and damages most significantly. These countries are both most exposed to hazards caused by climate change, and least able to cope with them.’
In her research Susan Ann Samuel highlights further dimensions around inequalities and climate impact linked, for example, to age and ethnicity:
‘Structural inequalities, such as racism, also exacerbate the impacts of climate change, affecting people with less privilege, such as those from marginalized ethnicities or genders. Moreover, young people and future generations, who have contributed the least to climate change, will bear the brunt of its extreme outcomes in the coming century and beyond.’
A blog published by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change highlights links between gender inequality and climate change with women more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than men. The researchers also point out that the effects on women are not equal and that other factors (e.g. race, age) can compound this vulnerability.
The injustice associated with the distinction between those most affected by climate change and those with responsibility for causing emissions is the subject of significant research. Academics at the University of St Andrews highlight work on how the costs associated with cutting emissions could be divided between countries and what is owed to those individuals and communities affected by climate change. Proposed options include whether costs should fall to those that have contributed the most emissions historically or those who can afford to pay.
Research published by CDP (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) on the impacts of climate change on the UK population found that low-income households, the elderly, those with vulnerable health, children and minority communities are most affected. In September 2024 the Scottish Government published a Joint Equalities Impact Assessment & Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment to accompany the Scottish National Adaptation Plan 2024-2029. The assessment, which is a requirement under the Public Sector Equality Duty, sets out how the Adaptation Plan seeks to address climate change impacts on groups with certain protected characteristics and notes that:
‘People living with social and economic disadvantage are more likely to experience poor quality environments, less likely to have the adaptive capacity, more likely to be sensitive to the impacts of climate change. Other factors affecting vulnerability include geographic location, housing tenure and energy efficiency.’
The Scottish Government has also committed to ensure that considerations around fairness are reflected in the transition to net zero. The Climate Change Act 2019 sets out a number of ‘just transition principles’ and a requirement for these to be considered in the development of plans to achieve Scotland’s emissions targets. The legislation states that these principles include cutting emissions in a way that ‘contributes to resource efficient and sustainable economic approaches which help to address inequality and poverty.’ A just transition to a net zero economy falls within the remit of the Scottish Parliament’s Economy and Fair Work Committee and a separate blog highlights how the work of that committee links with climate change.
Dr Dan Barlow, Knowledge Exchange Manager – Climate Change Scrutiny, SPICe
Blog Image: Pixabay