FATAL FUELS: WHY HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION URGENTLY REQUIRES A FULL AND EQUITABLE FOSSIL FUEL PHASE OUT

The climate emergency is an unprecedented global human rights crisis. Fossil fuel combustion is the primary cause of climate change, which has been settled science for decades. This briefing provides examples of how the production, transformation and use of fossil fuels – enabled and prolonged by the industry’s mis- and disinformation and effective lobbying – undermine human rights of fenceline communities living near fossil fuel infrastructure and frontline communities disproportionately harmed by climate change. It draws from extensive qualitative research Amnesty International and its partners have conducted over the past two decades, and illustrates why a full, fast, fair and funded phase out of the demand for and supply of fossil fuel production and use, including by ending fossil fuel subsidies, is an urgent imperative if we are to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis on the enjoyment of human rights.