Human rights in the energy transition: SOMO submits input to the UN

In April 2025, SOMO responded to two key calls for input by United Nations Special Rapporteurs: one on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of renewable energy development, and another on the situation of human rights defenders working on climate change and a just transition. The resulting reports will inform discussions at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in October 2025.

UN Call: Human Rights and Climate Change

SOMO submitted three contributions to the UN Special Rapporteur Elisa Morgera, each addressing a different aspect of the energy transition: from global supply chains to EU trade deals and colonial dynamics on occupied land.

1. The cost of “green” growth: joint submission with ESCR-Net
   The current transition mineral boom is fuelling land dispossession, environmental destruction, and attacks on communities, particularly in the Global South. In this joint submission, SOMO and ESCR-Net call for systemic change in how we govern natural resources, and urge states to prioritise human rights over corporate profits in their climate policies.

Key issues covered:

• The massive rights violations associated with “green” energy projects, from child labour in DRC cobalt mines to the displacement of Maasai pastoralists in Kenya.
• The regulatory failures of States and international institutions, which have allowed corporate violations and abuses to flourish with impunity.
• The urgent need to centre human rights, Indigenous sovereignty, and the rights of nature at every step of the global energy transition.

Read more about the submission here(opens in new window) . 

2. Transitional minerals and EU trade policy (SOMO submission)

Building on the submission with ESCR-Net, this contribution focuses on how EU trade and investment policy is fuelling a neocolonial scramble for transition minerals. It exposes how strategic partnerships, weak sustainability provisions in Free Trade Agreements, and the aggressive pursuit of raw materials are driving harmful impacts on human rights and the environment in resource-rich countries.

Key demands:

• Reform trade agreements to prioritise human rights and the environment.
• Drastically reduce resource consumption in high-income countries.
• End mechanisms like investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), which allow companies to sue states for regulating extractive industries.

Read more about the submission here.

3. Renewable energy in occupied territories

In occupied territories, renewable energy can deepen injustice. This joint contribution, submitted with Novact(opens in new window) , SUDS(opens in new window) and ODHE(opens in new window) , exposes how renewable energy projects in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and Western Sahara are reinforcing military occupation, colonial control, and resource exploitation. While Palestinian and Sahrawi communities are denied access to energy sovereignty, Israeli and Moroccan projects, often backed by European firms, benefit from subsidies, grid access, and impunity.

Key demands:

• Enforce free, prior, and informed consent in occupied territories.
• Prohibit public and private support for energy projects that benefit unlawful occupation.
• Ensure companies conduct enhanced due diligence and divest where compliance with international law is impossible.

Read more about this submission here.

UN Call: Human Rights Defenders and the Just Transition

Together with Global Rights Advocacy(opens in new window) , SOMO made one submission to the UN Special Rapporteur Mary Lawlor:

4. Carbon offsets and extractive “green” projects

This joint submission warns that carbon offset schemes and large-scale green infrastructure projects (like mines and dams) are often sites of grave human rights abuses, displacement, repression, and criminalisation of land defenders. Communities defending their rights in these contexts face harassment, violence, or even death.

Key issues covered:

• Carbon offset markets enable greenwashing, harm communities, and offer no protection to those who stand up against these injustices.
• Transition minerals mining is the most dangerous sector for defenders.
• States and international institutions must end impunity and ensure remedy for human rights defenders facing persecution and threats to their health and safety.

Read more about this submission here.

Looking ahead

SOMO hopes that these inputs will contribute meaningfully to both UN reports and help shape stronger accountability standards for governments and companies. We call on all relevant institutions to listen to affected communities and ensure that the global energy transition is just, rights-based, and truly sustainable.

More on SOMO’s work on climate justice and corporate accountability is available here.