UN human rights experts on Monday called on the Council of Europe to begin the negotiation on initiating a binding protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights recognizing the right to a healthy environment. Europe must respond decisively to science, justice, and its citizens, the experts stated, noting that youth and marginalized communities disproportionately bear the crisis’s impacts.

The UN experts emphasized that such a move aligns with Europe’s leadership on human rights and scientific consensus on the planetary crisis, adding that: 

Explicit recognition of this right would also bring substantial social, economic and environmental benefits to Member States: arising from healthier ecosystems, that help address health inequalities for individuals and communities, and allow for significant public health savings, among others,

The protocol aims to recognize the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. It stems from an initiative from an appeal in a November 2024 letter from UN special rapporteurs urging the body to address the triple planetary crisis of intertwined climate change, biodiversity loss, and toxic pollution.

The UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council recognized these rights in resolution A/RES/76/300 adopted on July 28, 2022, and resolution A/HRC/RES/48/13 adopted on October 8, 2021. All 46 Council of Europe member states endorsed the implementation of the resolutions, with 28 states already enshrining these rights domestically. According to experts, these domestic and regional recognitions would strengthen legal protection amid the ever-escalating environmental crisis, such as the deadly flood in Spain and transnational corporate disputes. This view has been further corroborated by the European court in the case of Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz and Others v. Switzerland, where the court urged the need to expressly recognize the human right to a healthy and clean environment.