What Makes Climate Action Just?
Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD) attended The Hague Talks on 15 December 2025, a high level public discussion convening policymakers, experts, activists and civil society to examine the climate crisis through the lenses of human rights, justice and ethics. The event underscored a central message: climate change is not only an environmental or technological challenge, but a profound human rights issue that demands urgent, inclusive and ethical action.
Opening the discussions, Alderman Arjen Kapteijns emphasised that climate justice must be understood as human rights justice. Highlighting the role of cities in advancing climate accountability, he reaffirmed The Hague’s commitment to positioning itself as a safe haven for climate justice and international dialogue, stressing that local governance has a responsibility to uphold dignity, equity and participation in climate responses.
From Environmental Degradation to Human Consequences
Former Chief of Defence of the Netherlands, Tom Middendorp, author of “The Climate General”, addressed the security implications of climate change. Drawing on concrete examples, he described how climate related destruction of farmland and crops erodes livelihoods and pushes communities into situations of vulnerability, sometimes fuelling instability and extremism.
Middendorp identified population growth, climate change and geopolitical fragmentation as interlinked challenges shaping today’s security landscape. He stressed the need to create a sense of urgency by advancing narratives that clearly demonstrate the human and societal costs of climate inaction, particularly for audiences that may not respond to traditional climate discourse.
Exposed Inequality and the Limits of Technological Solutions
Several speakers cautioned against climate responses that ignore ethical implications or reproduce existing inequalities. Behnam Taebi, Professor of Energy and Climate Ethics at TU Delft, questioned what inevitability of certain climate impacts, such as increased reliance on air conditioning, means in terms of inequality and climate ethics. He warned that dominant visual narratives of climate change, such as melting Arctic glaciers or distant deserts, risk obscuring the reality that climate change is already affecting cities and communities in the Global North.
Taebi further noted that current political momentum behind nuclear energy is often driven by energy independence rather than climate justice considerations, and raised critical questions about geo engineering as a controversial but increasingly discussed response to the climate crisis.
“Development” at Whose Expense?
Former Colombian Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Susana Muhamad, delivered a powerful critique of systemic exploitation of both people and nature. She argued that current global inequalities are the result of economic systems that prioritise extraction and profit over human well being. Muhamad highlighted how inaction is sustained by fear, power imbalances and a persistent belief in a model of development that benefits some at the expense of others.
Drawing on examples from Colombia, she described the resistance of coffee growing communities fighting mining projects that threaten their farmland in the name of supplying materials for renewable energy technologies. Muhamad stressed that people on the front lines of climate change must be listened to not merely for consultation purposes, but as central actors in decision making processes. She concluded that fossil fuel capital must never be allowed to outweigh human well being.
Disconnection and the Human Dimension of the Climate Crisis
Actress and filmmaker Hanna Verboom linked the climate crisis to a broader crisis of disconnection. Reflecting on her upbringing in Kenya and the philosophy of Ubuntu, she described how interdependence contrasts sharply with dominant models of individualism. Verboom drew parallels between environmental degradation and the global mental health crisis, describing both as symptoms of disconnection fostered by consumerism and corporate driven narratives of fulfilment.
She emphasised that hope must be rooted in action, noting that hope without action is empty, while action without hope is unsustainable. Her intervention reinforced the need to address climate change not only through policy and technology, but through restoring connection, solidarity and human dignity.
Youth, Responsibility and Climate Justice
Youth advocate Noemi Zenk-Agyei challenged the audience to move beyond symbolic recognition of young people as “the future”. She highlighted the persistent gap between those who design systems that worsen the climate crisis and those who experience its consequences first hand. Quoting a climate witness from Greenland on “the right to cold”, she called on everyone present to actively show up for climate action and climate justice, stressing that participation is a responsibility, not a privilege.
Conclusion
GHRD notes that The Hague Talks strongly echoed its longstanding position that climate action must be grounded in human rights, participation and human dignity. The discussions reinforced that ethical considerations, inclusion of affected communities, and accountability must be placed at the centre of climate governance.
As debates on climate solutions accelerate at national, European and international levels, GHRD reiterates that just climate action requires listening to those most affected, confronting structural inequalities, and ensuring that responses to the climate crisis advance justice rather than deepen existing harms.
