Ana García,
Professor of the CEI International Affairs, center linked to UB, and collaborator of the UPF Planetar Wellbeing Initiative

Given how intensely our well-being depends on non-renewable resources, the current energy crisis must also be analysed from a human rights perspective, in terms of both impacts and responses, and in both the global South and global North.

On the one hand, it is undeniable that this energy crisis is directly and indirectly impacting human rights, as it affects the infrastructure for the supply of goods and services needed to guarantee human dignity (access to sufficient and adequate food, decent housing, etc.). Indeed, guaranteeing minimum material conditions is the main task of the internationally recognized right to an adequate standard of living, which includes the right of all people to health and well-being, in particular in relation to food, clothing, housing, medical care and social services. Although standard of living is a relative standard, and therefore depends on each particular context, some elements of this right are absolute and must be guaranteed in any situation, such as the right to be free from hunger or the right to water.

In today’s globalized system, the elements that guarantee the right to an adequate standard of living largely depend on the availability of cheap energy sources. The functioning of the global economic system is characterized by a high and growing voracity for energy and high dependence on fossil fuels, which have, until now, been available at low cost. A clear example of this dependence is food, the prices of which have risen considerably in the last two years, along with the prices of essential inputs for its production, such as oil or inorganic fertilizers. This increase has a strong impact on the right to food and is triggering a global crisis that is plunging millions of people into poverty and hunger, especially in the global South. Under international law, ensuring this fundamental right to be free from hunger must be an absolute priority on the agendas of states, which must provide vulnerable individuals and groups with the necessary means to acquire food.

On the other hand, with regard to the responses to the energy crisis in our societies in the global North – and to future changes in the energy and environmental landscape – a human-rights-based perspective means that demand reduction policies should seek to ensure an adequate standard of living. This means, first, ensuring the proper functioning and resilience of the production and supply infrastructure, in order to guarantee that people’s basic energy needs are met. Second, in a complementary way, policies must aim to curb superfluous energy consumption by people for whom these needs are already covered.

In conclusion, in a context of resource scarcity and the surpassing of various planetary limits, in which it is imperative to reduce demand for energy and materials, human rights can be viewed as practical tools that allow us to direct policies towards meeting the entire population’s basic needs, within the planetary limits. They are thus an essential compass that should guide our societies in these uncertain times.

"Els drets humans com a eina per a l'acció climàtica: una proposta comunicativa"