The newly emerging intersections between climate change, environmental justice, and human rights in Africa

Translated by Giulia Girardi 

Edited by Ambassador Giuseppe Mistretta, Member of the Scientific and Academic Committee

The recent, frequent references to climate change and environmental protection in numerous documents and legislative acts — despite this being a time when human rights receive limited attention — have significant repercussions on the realm of both individual and collective human rights.

At the global leel, the right to live in a healthy environment has been acknowledged by an increasing number of declarations, conventions, and court judgments, including arbitral awards. Recognition of the relationship between climate, the environment, and human rights has rapidly been consolidated at the international level. This also leads to concrete obligations for companies through the law of the State of origin, due diligence, the social responsibility of public and private companies and other institutions. A decisive step in this direction was the United Nations General Assembly Resolution of 28 July 2022, within which 161 States recognized the existence of a right to a clean, sustainable, and healthy environment as part of the fundamental human rights. Although the Resolution is not legally binding, it also calls upon companies to adopt ethical practices, in order to fully acknowledge and honour human rights.

This growing connection between environmental and fundamental human rights has recently been receiving attention in Africa as much as in other countries. Article 24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights — which considers all 54 States that have ratified it — provides that “all peoples shall have the right to a positive environment that can benefit their livelihoods,” thereby introducing the category of community rights. Meanwhile, Resolution 662 of May 2026 of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights states that the climate emergency constitutes a serious threat to human rights and sets out specific guidelines for environmental protection, which can also be extended to companies.

The right to a healthy environment encompasses a wide range of factors — including healthy ecosystems, clean water and air, safe food, and a non-toxic environment — as well as access to justice for those seeking to hold States or companies accountable for fulfilling their climate obligations. Legal commentators consistently argue that failure to comply with certain environmental standards may constitute an actual violation of fundamental human rights.

While this phenomenon has already generated a substantial body of case law in the Americas and Europe — especially after the judgments of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights —, it is still in its early stage in Africa. However, due to the rapid deterioration of the local ecosystems — as a result of pollution caused by fossil fuels and the alteration of land resulting from major infrastructure projects — climate and environmental litigation is gaining increasing momentum. Whereas such proceedings — initially brought by individual citizens, groups, or associations, were for the most part directed against States — companies are now often the targets of such litigation when they fail to comply with guidelines established at the various COP conferences, such as the Paris Conference and the resulting 2015 Agreement, or with provisions contained in national constitutions and other domestic laws, or in the African Charter, and so forth.

The connection with fundamental human rights means that claimants seek not only the restoration of satisfactory environmental conditions through court judgments or arbitral awards, or the imposition of “environmental” fines, but also forms of financial compensation for affected individuals or communities. However, such compensation remains particularly difficult to obtain due to the complex interplay of local, national, and international rules and jurisdictions. A typical example in Africa is provided by the various disputes concerning pollution in the Niger River Delta in Nigeria, resulting from oil spills into its waters and the consequent damage suffered by communities living in the area.

Companies operating in Africa are, in many cases, not even fully aware of the consequences that this situation entails in terms of so-called “corporate compliance” (i.e., compliance with the various regulations and standards governing their activities). To this end, a significant number of international law firms are developing the necessary expertise to provide clients with the legal assistance required to help them avoid incurring substantial penalties. Furthermore, companies operating in Africa need to be able to demonstrate that they have identified, prevented, mitigated, and — if necessary —, remedied environmental and climate-related impacts that may result in violations of the rights of individuals and local communities.

In addition to the hydrocarbons and major infrastructure sectors, the sectors affected by the new environmental and climate regulations include agribusiness, deforestation, the use of water and groundwater resources, land and settlement rights, mining, food security, fisheries, and more.

A European company operating in an African country may need to acknowledge a plurality of laws and customary rules — the legislation of its home State and of the State in which it operates; international human rights law; ESG standards; and European rules on due diligence and sustainability —, thereby exposing it to the risk of multiple legal proceedings under different jurisdictions.

Currently, African climate and environmental litigation is concentrated in a number of countries — Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria —, focusing in particular on the adverse effects of coal-fired power plants, the activities of major multinational energy companies, and new large-scale infrastructure projects such as dams on the environment and the rights of local communities. Such legal actions are often brought by local communities against foreign companies operating in the country, as well as against their foreign parent companies before the courts.

From a legal perspective, the following changes are particularly worth mentioning: the growing connections between environmental rights and fundamental human and community rights, and the emerging trend of holding not only States, but also companies, responsible for failures to comply with their obligations. 

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