The Right to a Healthy Environment and Transnational Corporate Accountability: Bridging Gaps between Global North and Global South Perspectives

Abstract

The 2022 UN General Assembly’s recognition of the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment marked a significant step in advancing environmental protection through human rights mechanisms. States in the Global South have led the way in conceptualising the right to a healthy environment in a holistic and broad manner which has allowed for enhanced efforts at corporate environmental and climate accountability. However, this approach has been largely absent from Global North frameworks, which has focused instead on corporate human rights due diligence and the establishment of normative frameworks which entrench certain neoliberal conceptions about the divide between state and corporate responsibility.

This article explores the potential of the right to a healthy environment to enhance corporate accountability for environmental harm, particularly in the context of the UNGA resolution recognising the right, emerging international climate litigation and the development of mandatory human rights due diligence legislation. Divided into four parts, this article first traces the historical development of the right to a healthy environment, examining its intersection with the business and human rights movement. It argues that a gap exists between the right to a healthy environment and corporate accountability, particularly given the Global South’s leadership in interpreting the right in this context. It then analyses the 2022 UN resolution and subsequent UN reports that have further developed this right, highlighting innovative approaches to corporate responsibility. Finally, the article considers future pathways for applying the right to hold non-state actors accountable for environmental harm, offering insights into how this right may influence corporate behaviour through litigation and policy mechanisms.