1. Introduction
Plan B is a charitable incorporated organization (CIO), registered in the UK, and
regulated by the UK Charity Commission. Its charitable purposes include:
to promote human rights (as set out in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and subsequent United Nations conventions and
declarations) in so far as they are threatened or adversely affected by
the impacts of climate change and other environmental degradation, in
particular by:
(i) preventing infringements of such rights;
(ii) obtaining redress for victims where such rights are infringed;
(iii) promoting respect for such rights among individuals,
investors and corporations; and
(iv) providing technical advice to governments and others on
relevant matters of human rights.
Climate change poses a grave threat to the human rights of people around the
world, in particular those in regions most vulnerable to its impacts. Governments
have agreed that warming must be limited to 1.5 or ‘well below’ 2C, yet the
aggregate of national commitments (agreed under the same UN process) leaves the
world on track for average 3-4C warming (see graphic below, as presented by Sir
David King, the UK’s Special Representative for Climate Change, to the International
Energy Agency in January 2016):
2