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This analytical documents provides a tool for government and other stakeholders that can assist with achieving more sustainable urban development. It facilitates an enabling environment that allows stakeholders to take advantage of urban opportunity. How to address climate change in cities and human settlements represents one of the most pressing challenges facing urban policy-makers today. It recommends how to mainstream such considerations into National Urban Policy, thus helping to empower national governments, local governments, and other stakeholders to effectively address climate change.

This guidance document exposes the Cities and Climate Change Initiative (CCCI), which supports cities in emerging and developing countries to address climate challenge. The Initiative supports cities responding to the negative impact of climate change that is already being felt worldwide, and to put in place appropriate mitigation measures. CCCI places emphasis on participatory processes, sound analysis, sustainable urban planning, good governance, responsive leadership, and practical initiatives at all levels.

This guidance document suggests that human rights-based approach should be integrated in any climate change adaptation or mitigation measures, such as the promotion of alternative energy sources, forest conservation or tree-planting projects, resettlement schemes and others. Focusing on the rights of those who are already vulnerable and marginalized due to poverty and discrimination, a human rights-based approach to climate change can be a useful tool to complement international efforts aimed at tackling the adverse effects of global warming.

This policy document highlights the essential obligations and responsibilities of States and other duty-bearers (including businesses) and their implications for climate change-related agreements, policies, and actions. The document suggests that in order to foster policy coherence and help ensure that climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts are adequate, sufficiently ambitious, non-discriminatory and otherwise compliant with human rights obligations, the following considerations should be reflected in all climate action, including agreements to be negotiated at the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. 

This document was submitted by OHCHR to the 21st Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC, 27 November 2015.

This brief highlight the essential obligations and responsibilities of States and other duty-bearers (including businesses) and their implications for climate change-related agreements, policies, and actions. The brief suggests that in order to foster policy coherence and help ensure that climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts are adequate, sufficiently ambitious, non-discriminatory and otherwise compliant with human rights obligations, the following considerations should be reflected in all climate action.

This resolution presents that the Council urged Parties to integrate human rights in climate change mitigation and adaptation, and called for a panel discussion on the adverse impact of climate change on the rights of the child to be held in the 34th session.

This resolution presents that the Council emphasized the urgent importance of continuing to address the adverse consequences of climate change for all and called for a panel discussion and analytical study on the impacts of climate change on the enjoyment of the right to health.

This resolution shows that the Council emphasized the need for all States to enhance international dialogue and cooperation to address the adverse impacts of climate change on the enjoyment of human rights including the right to development. The council called for dialogue, capacity-building, mobilization of financial resources, technology transfer, and other forms of cooperation to facilitate climate change adaptation and mitigation, in order to meet the special needs and circumstances of developing countries. 

This resolution shows that the Council affirmed human rights obligations, standards, and principles have the potential to inform and strengthen international and national policy-making in the area of climate change, promoting policy coherence, legitimacy, and sustainable outcomes.

This resolution presents that the Council noted “climate change-related impacts have a range of implications, both direct and indirect, for the effective enjoyment of human rights …” and that such effects “will be felt most acutely by those segments of the population who are already in a vulnerable situation.” 

This resolution shows the Council expressed concern that climate change “poses an immediate and far-reaching threat to people and communities around the world” and requested the OHCHR to prepare a study on the relationship between climate change and human rights.

This visual resource presents guidelines, policy, terminology, technical requirements and examples of the project nearly Zero Energy Hotels (neZEH), which are particularly useful for building professionals. 

English, Croatian, French, Greek, Italian, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish

This visual resource presents guidelines, policy, terminology and technical requirements of the project nearly Zero Energy Hotels (neZEH) which are useful for hoteliers.   

English, Croatian, French, Greek, Italian, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish

This brochure introduces a project “nearly Zero Energy Hotels” (neZEH), which is co-funded by the European Commission in the frame of the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme, aiming to accelerate the rate of large scale renovations of hotels into nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEB) by providing technical advice to committed hoteliers and demonstrating flagship nZEB projects in the European hospitality sector.

This guidance document gives an overview of the initiative Nearly Zero Energy Hotels (neZEH), which aims to support the European accommodation industry in accelerating the rate of refurbishment of existing buildings into Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB), providing technical advice to hoteliers for NZEB renovations, demonstrating the sustainability of such projects and challenging further large scale renovations through capacity building activities, showcasing best practices and promoting the front runners. 

This policy document outlines seven clear targets and four priorities for action in the Sendai Framework to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks: (i) Understanding disaster risk; (ii) Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk; (iii) Investing in disaster reduction for resilience and; (iv) Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response, and to “Build Back Better” in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

The Sendai Framework aims to achieve the substantial reduction of disaster risk and losses in lives, livelihoods and health and in the economic, physical, social, cultural and environmental assets of persons, businesses, communities and countries over the next 15 years.

The Framework was adopted at the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan, on March 18, 2015.

This technical document analyzes the impact of two hurricanes and a tropical storm that affected Belize in order to identify some key vulnerabilities in the power system to extreme weather, which is likely to be exacerbated due to climate change. By addressing these weaknesses, Belize can significantly enhance its energy resilience and adaptive capacity. 

This brief states that there is widespread confusion about the linkages between human-induced climate change and extreme weather, and this is an issue of communication as well as of science. This brief reviews these issues, advancements in event attribution science, and offers suggestions for improvement in communication.

This video provides basic background about rising atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases. 

This technical document is part of an annual series published by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on the status of the global climate. It provides key results and information on regional climate features for each year.