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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 October 2025
The new collective quantitative target (NCQG) of at least $300 billion per year by 2035 was adopted at COP29 held in Baku in 2024. Given that criteria for allocating climate finance have not been specified, will the current trend of economic-based climate finance continue, or will it gradually shift towards human rights-based? Since the current economic-based trend has created a fossil fuel future for fossil-fuel-producing developing countries (FFPDCs), there is a need to rethink the criteria for allocating finance based on Human Rights-Based discourse. Such a trend is applicable in compensation for leaving fossil fuel underground. The Human Rights-Based approach ensures the human rights of poor and indigenous people in the sacrifice zones in the FFPDCs in line with the Paris Agreement. In this regard, a tool for allocation of climate finance could be the Human Rights Impact Assessment of fossil fuel extraction projects, alongside the Human Development Index of FFPDCs.
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2 Ibid., at para 8.
3 Igor SHISHLOV and Philipp CENSKOWSKY, “Same but different? Understanding divergent definitions of and views on climate finance” in Axel MICHAELOWA and Anne-Kathrin SACHERER, Handbook of International Climate Finance, (United Kingdom: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2022), at 24.
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6 Right to development, GA Res A/79/168, 17 July 2024, para. 19.
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19 Ibid., at 62.
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32 Ibid., at 5.
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45 Ibid., at 3.
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48 Ibid., at para 27.
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53 Martínez et al., supra note 8 at 23.
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58 Chen et al., supra note 22 at 55.
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61 Huang and Guo, supra note 57 at 454.
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63 Zahar, supra note 4 at 85.
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66 Obergassel et al., supra note 27 at 4.
67 Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement Sixth session Baku, supra note 1, para 9.
68 Juszko and Nyka, supra note 59 at 99.
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70 Chen et al., supra note 22 at 98.
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73 Jensen and Roniger, supra note 49 at 1.
74 Choe and Monago, supra note 5 at 293.
75 Joyeeta GUPTA et al., Leaving Fossil Fuels Underground, (Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press, 2024) at 51.
76 David R. BOYD and Stephanie KEENE, “Mobilizing Trillions for the Global South: The Imperative of Human Rights-based Climate Finance”, Policy Brief #5, November 2023 at 11.
77 Gupta et al., supra note 75 at 250.
78 Shishlov and Censkowsky, supra note 3 at 24.
79 Ibid., at 36.
80 IPCC, Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Summary for Policymakers, 2022.
81 Right to development, GA Res A/79/168, 17 July 2024 at 17.
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86 Gupta et al., supra note 75 at 244.
87 Jensen and Roniger, supra note 49 at 1.
88 Choe and Monago, supra note 5 at 270.
89 Boyd and Keene, supra note 76 at 9.
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92 Gupta et al., supra note 75 at 245.
93 Jensen and Roniger, supra note 49 at 5.
94 The United Nations Human Rights Special Rapporteur, Safe Climate, A/74/161, 2019 at 73.
95 Boyd and Keene, supra note 76 at 7.
96 Zahar, supra note 4 at 125.
97 Heras, supra note 91 at 68.
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99 Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Climate Analytics, E3G, IISD, and UNEP, supra note 33 at 34.
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101 Wu et al., supra note 28 at 22.
102 Ibid., at 48.
103 Chen et al., supra note 22 at 100.
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107 Boyd and Keene, supra note 76 at 7.
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109 United Nations, a Report of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, A/74/161 at 18.
110 Bodansky et al., supra note 35 at 227.
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114 United Nations Human Rights Office, “Advancing a Human Rights-Based Approach to the Climate Negotiations”, (2022), online OHCHR https://unemg.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/EMG-IMG-Final-UNFCCC-COP27-KMs.pdf at 3.
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117 Van Asselt, supra note 37 at 7.
118 Wewerinke-Singh, supra note 60 at 24.
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123 Aliénor CAMERON et al., “A Just Transition Fund-How the EU budget can best assist in the necessary transition from fossil fuels to sustainable energy”, PE 651.444—April 2020 at 37.
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128 Maniruzzaman and Al-Saleem, supra note 122 at 2.
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130 Right to development, GA. Res A/79/168, 17 July 2024 at 12.
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132 Rempel and Gupta, supra note 85 at 16.
133 Maniruzzaman and Al-Saleem, supra note 122 at 8.
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136 Ibid., at 181.
137 Martínez et al., supra note 8 at 21.
138 Gupta et al., supra note 75 at 217.
139 Ibid., at 212.
140 Martínez et al., supra note 8 at 20.
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144 Gupta et al., supra note 70 at 248.
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147 Ibid., at 21.
148 Bodansky et al., supra note 35 at 4.
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157 Johl and Lador, supra note 43 at 18.
158 United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), “Promoting Rights-based Climate Finance for People and Planet”, working paper, 2017 at 22.
159 The United Nations Human Rights Special Rapporteur, supra note 94 at 19.
160 Ibid., at 18.
161 Lars JENSEN, “Global Decarbonization in Fossil Fuel Export-Dependent Economies Fiscal and economic transition costs” United Nations Development Programme (May 2023), online: UNDP https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2023-05/Global%20Decarbonization%20in%20Fossil%20Fuel%20Export-Dependent%20Economies.pdf at 24.
162 Ashley Nancy REYNOLDS, Human Rights Impact Assessment Guidance and Toolbox, the Danish Institute for Human Rights, 2020 at 4.
163 The World Bank, “Study on Human Rights Impact Assessments A Review of the Literature, Differences with other Forms of Assessments and Relevance for Development”, February 2013, at v.
164 United Nations Development Programme, “Human Development Index (HDI)” online: UNDP https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/human-development-index#/indicies/HDI (Accessed: 14.05.2025).
165 Jensen, supra note 161at 23.
166 Kristin ROSENDAL et al., “International Payment for Forest Conservation. Special Case: Compensation for Leaving the Oil in the Ground in Yasuní National Park, Ecuador”, A Report to the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment, FNI Report 2/2008 at 11.