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Explore our work with partners, globally and locally, to tackle social and economic injustice using a human rights lens.

GI-ESCR’s Position at COP30

GI-ESCR’s Position at COP30

The Global Initiative for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR) will participate in the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) from November 10-21 in Belem do Pará, Brazil. 

After the wrap of the 62nd sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB62) in June, marking the official starting line for what could be one of the most pivotal climate COPs, States established a critical agenda for COP30, with key deliverables including establishing a just transition framework, defining a global goal on adaptation, updating the gender action plan, scaling up climate finance and delivering the Nationally Determined Contributions before the end of 2025. With these goals in mind, this year’s COP has the potential to deliver on real climate action. 

In the climate negotiations at COP30, GI-ESCR will actively engage and focus its attention on the following key issues to ensure economic, social, cultural and environmental rights in climate policy.

 

Just Transition: Steering a Just and Rapid Transformation Towards Sustainable Societies and Economies That Protect People and the Planet 

The concept of a just transition has become central to discussions on the social justice dimensions of climate action. Over time, it has evolved to encompass not only workers’ rights but also the broader systemic transformations required to build fair, inclusive and sustainable societies and economies. At COP30, GI-ESCR will advocate for embedding human rights and gender equality at the core of the UNFCCC’s work on just transition, ensuring that climate action drives transformative change for people, communities and the planet; we will also push for stronger mechanisms for monitoring and implementation of just transition policies with the aim of achieving greater impact on the ground and serving as an instrument for communities. 

One of the core mechanisms within the UNFCCC to advance this vision has been the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP). Established at COP27, it aimed to create spaces for knowledge sharing and encourage conversations with different stakeholders to develop promising practices for just transition frameworks and strategies. Over the last two years, the JTWP has hosted dialogues covering issues ranging from “whole economy” approaches to the just transition and adaptation to climate financing.  

In 2026, the mandate of the JTWP comes to a close. This COP30 will have to decide on how to continue the work on just transition within the UNFCCC. In June, at the SB62 meeting in Bonn, there was an agreement to recommend the consideration and adoption of a decision on just transition at COP30 that includes (i) the recognition of specific guidance on just transition based on the dialogues held by the JTWP; and (ii) a determination of how the just transition work will continue from 2026 on. That agreement acknowledged an informal note from the Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP), prepared by the co-chairs, which gives us some clues as to where the negotiations could go in Belém. 

As to the recognition of specific guidance on just transition (currently, paragraph 11 of the informal note), the informal note currently includes elements highlighting that just transition pathways have to be integrated into Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), and Long-Term Low Emission Development Strategies (LT-LEDS); the importance of social dialogue, labour rights and decent work; inclusive participation of all stakeholders, including affected workers, Indigenous Peoples and people in vulnerable situations; the need for whole-of-society and whole-of-economy approaches; the integration of adaptation and resilience; and the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity. In particular, the draft text includes the recognition of the importance of facilitating universal access to clean, reliable, affordable and sustainable energy for all. The inclusion of this element is pivotal, as transition policies must not only reduce emissions but also address the root causes of the climate emergency and the structural inequalities that persist between and within countries. The transition to environmentally sustainable societies should generate social and economic benefits for all, with a particular focus on those living in energy poverty, ensuring their access to clean, renewable, efficient and safe energy sources. Equitable access to sustainable energy is essential for the realisation of human rights and for ensuring that no one is left behind. 

Moreover, the draft text also includes the recognition of the necessity of adopting a gender- and human rights-based approach to just transition policies. Embedding gender and human rights at the centre of just transition strategies is vital to guarantee that climate action drives not only environmental sustainability but also helps build just and equal societies. A rights-based approach requires that all stages of the energy transition —from the extraction of critical minerals to the generation, transmission and consumption of renewable energy— uphold international human rights standards, including the rights to equality and non-discrimination, with particular attention to gender equality and the empowerment of women and gender-diverse people.  

Overall, the current draft text represents a balanced and forward-looking foundation that reflects many of the key dimensions of a rights-based and inclusive just transition. It will be important for Parties to preserve and, where possible, further strengthen this language in the final decision. In particular, it will be fundamental to maintain the gender- and human rights-based approach in the resolution, which is essential to achieve truly just and equitable transitions that do not replicate existing inequalities or create new forms of exclusion. To consolidate and strengthen the resolution, an additional element could address the continuous escalation of global energy consumption. The text should acknowledge that transition policies must also aim to reduce energy demand and scale down harmful, energy-intensive industries —of which one of the more problematic is the defence industry —, in order to align the transition with ecological limits and human rights obligations. This requires moving away from a model of “energy addition,” in which renewable energy is merely layered on top of fossil fuels, towards one that actively phases out polluting sectors while fostering new, sustainable forms of livelihood. 

As to the continuation of the work on just transition, the negotiations at the SB62 left the door open for the potential establishment of an institutional arrangement focused on the implementation of just transition policies by parties. This proposal has been called the Belem Action Mechanism (BAM) for a Global Just Transition, which would continue and enhance the work of the JTWP. The potential establishment of the BAM shows that COP30 offers an opportunity to advance a strong mechanism to tackle just transition and ensure its effective implementation. At the same time, the outcome is still unclear: the draft text of the negotiations in Bonn also considered two potential less ambitious alternatives: improving the existing modalities of the Work Programme, without creating any new structure; or deferring the decision to next year. 

GI-ESCR's position is that the Parties must establish a robust Belem Action Mechanism that is actually capable of providing guidance and support to countries transitioning to low-carbon economies without leaving anyone behind and, at the same time, upholding the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. The new mechanism must help ensure a rapid and equitable phase-out of fossil fuels and a shift towards sustainable economies and societies that create better conditions for the well-being of people and the planet. UNFCCC’s mechanisms must go beyond providing spaces for the exchange of best practices and present concrete, actionable recommendations for national climate policies to accelerate, consolidate and achieve a holistic just transition, within and between countries, through national action and international cooperation, including knowledge, technology, and resource transfers. 

 

Climate Finance: A Rights-Based Baku to Belém Roadmap to Overcome the Shortcomings of the New Collective Quantified Goal 

Climate finance is at the core of the most pressing urgencies that the climate emergency poses to current international demands. The scale, speed, and scope of the systemic change required to achieve emissions reductions and transformative adaptation to climate change can only be possible through human history's most unprecedented mobilisation of resources. Thus far, climate finance flows remain inadequate and inequitably distributed, disenabling transition policies. The countries and communities bearing the brunt of climate impacts often lack the resources to fund their own transitions, while those historically responsible for emissions have failed to adequately comply with their climate finance obligations. At COP30, GI-ESCR will advocate for the scaling up of predictable, innovative public finance, through highly concessional grants and other non-debt-creating instruments. 

While the adoption of the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance at COP29 in Baku was certainly a step forward, the decision fell short of what is needed to respond to the scale and urgency of the climate crisis. COP30 and the Baku to Belém Roadmap must now bridge those gaps by translating the NCQG into a credible plan that reflects the scale of needs—well above USD 1.3 trillion annually—and by addressing the structural barriers that prevent developing countries from accessing adequate resources. This requires a clear pathway for scaling up predictable, innovative and additional public finance, comprised by grants and highly concessional instruments, and ensuring fair burden-sharing among developed countries in line with equity, the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities (CBDR-RC), the polluter-pays principle, and extraterritorial obligations in terms of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 

Human rights must be placed at the heart of this effort. The recent Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice confirmed that States carry legal obligations under international human rights and environmental law to provide finance at the level and in the form required to enable ambitious mitigation and adaptation efforts, and to safeguard a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. In that sense, the Baku to Belem Roadmap should explicitly acknowledge these obligations, ensuring that climate finance drives ambition rather than deepening inequality. This means prioritising grant-based support that expands fiscal space without adding to debt burdens, while guaranteeing that funds reach those most affected by the climate emergency, including women, Indigenous Peoples, youth, persons with disabilities, workers, and other groups facing structural exclusion. 

Delivering on this vision also demands decisive action with regard to the systemic inequities shaping the global financial system. The Roadmap should explicitly align with and reinforce the ongoing negotiations for a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation as a central avenue to generate sustainable and equitable sources of public finance. Progressive taxation of the ultra-rich, multinational corporations and fossil fuel windfall profits, combined with measures to tackle illicit financial flows and dismantle tax havens, are indispensable to mobilise resources at the necessary scale to provide an effective and time-sensitive response to the triple planetary crisis. These reforms are also key to advancing a just economic transition that ensures those most responsible for the climate emergency bear its costs, while creating the fiscal space needed in developing countries for rights-based climate action. 

Finally, for the Baku to Belém Roadmap to have a tangible impact, it must go beyond aspirational statements and set out immediate and actionable measures that States can undertake in the short and medium term, such as in the next two to five years. This includes scaling up finance for adaptation and loss and damage—primarily through grant-based and gender-responsive support—while significantly increasing resources channelled through multilateral climate funds such as the Green Climate Fund, the Adaptation Fund and the Fund for Loss and Damage. Clear criteria for establishing what counts as climate finance is also urgently required, including exclusions for market-rate instruments or fossil-related investments, and concrete steps to align financial flows with both the Paris Agreement and binding international human rights obligations. By embedding short-term action within a longer-term vision, and grounding climate finance in human rights and global tax justice, the Baku to Belém Roadmap can turn from a political compromise into a genuine instrument for climate justice and sustainable development. 

 

Gender Equality: A new, Strengthened Gender Action Plan to Achieve Gender Equality in Climate Action 

The climate emergency deepens existing social, economic, and political inequalities and disproportionately affects women, girls, and non-binary people. At the same time, these groups are often excluded from climate decision-making. Both climate impacts and adaptation and mitigation measures can entrench gendered power imbalances: women’s overrepresentation in informal and care work limits access to reskilling; male-dominated land tenure increases women’s risk of dispossession; and unclean household energy causes millions of deaths each year, mostly among women and children. At COP30, GI-ESCR will advocate for a gender-transformative approach to climate action, one that centres the voices of women and gender-diverse people in decision-making, tackles structural inequalities across all stages of the energy transition, and ensures equitable participation in the green transition. Gender equality and women’s rights must be mainstreamed in all areas of the UNFCCC to raise ambition and undertake climate action that doesn’t leave anyone behind.  

The Enhanced Lima Work Programme and the Gender Action Plan are the main instruments adopted to promote gender equality under the UNFCCC processes. At COP 29, Parties concluded the final review and decided to extend the enhanced Lima work programme on gender for 10 years. Additionally, it was also decided that a new Gender Action Plan would be developed. The development of the GAP took place this year through two workshops, one at SB62 and another at the regional climate week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which produced an informal note and an informal summary that will serve as the basis for further negotiations at COP30.  

Overall, the current draft text is a strong foundation for the new GAP built through collaborative work that reflects and addresses many key demands to push for gender transformative climate action. It will be essential for Parties to preserve and further strengthen this proposal for the Plan. In particular, it will be crucial that parties do not go back on already agreed-upon human rights language to ensure that the GAP can advance substantive gender equality. The final decision for the GAP must include a strong intersectional perspective with indicators based on human rights norms and principles. It must also promote the participation of women and gender diverse populations, including those from indigenous, afro descendant and other racialised or marginalised groups, who are usually marginalised, and support coherence in the adoption of a gender perspective in all UNFCCC areas of work. 

It will also be crucial for the new version of the GAP to maintain and mainstream the inclusion of care as a focus throughout its different priority areas and activities to advance the achievement of a care society —one based on interdependence and eco-dependence, as constituent dimensions of individuals and their network of social, interpersonal and environmental relationships. The inclusion and mainstreaming of care in the GAP is essential due to the twofold interconnections between care work and the environment. On the one hand, these phenomena are linked from a care perspective, through the restless work that Indigenous and rural peoples —usually women and girls— do to maintain a healthy and thriving planet. This maintenance and support work cannot be persecuted, or even overlooked, and should be recognised as the fourth component of the human right to care and support. On the other hand, care work and responsibilities undoubtedly increase as the climate emergency escalates. Whether by climate-related disasters threatening critical infrastructure such as health and education facilities, or due to the erosion of local ecosystems essential for food production, which increases health risks, the truth is the need for care is increasing, falling disproportionately on the shoulders of women and girls, who already suffer the consequences of highly strained, informal, and underfunded care systems.  

The inclusion and mainstreaming of care in the GAP would bridge the environmental and care movements, fostering a just transition toward not only a sustainable economy but a sustainable society and planet. Integrating care as a focus of the activities of the new GAP, in priority areas such as capacity building, but also in implementation areas, like priority area D, can help advance effective gender-transformative climate action. This represents a crucial opportunity to create an ambitious GAP capable of delivering substantive gender equality in climate action. 

 

These are the priority areas and demands that GI-ESCR, jointly with partners, will focus on advancing at COP30 in Belém by actively coordinating and engaging in side events and contributing to collective advocacy strategies that will inform and influence climate negotiations. 

 

To answer questions, explore opportunities for collaboration, and coordinate with media, please contact the following GI-ESCR team members who are following COP30 negotiations in person: 

  • Maggie Rochi This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • Valentina Contreras, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
  • Ezequiel Steuermann, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
  • Martín Pintus, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
  • Macarena Cano, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  
  • Emilia Guzmán, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.