As the Human Rights Council considers a resolution on the Human Right to a Healthy and Sustainable Environment, a global initiative of fifty businesses and business organizations have united to call for its adoption.

We, the undersigned, are a group of business leaders who seek to catalyse a movement of business for a better world, one in which both people and nature can thrive. We call on Member States at the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly to unite in support of universal recognition of the human right to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment because we recognise it as fundamental to the functioning of our businesses, our societies and our economies.

Businesses rely on nature for resources such as food, fibre, minerals and building materials; ecosystem services such as pollination of crops, water filtration, waste decomposition, climate sequestration and climate regulation; and healthy and prosperous societies that give them their customers and workforces. A UN resolution on the right to a healthy environment would serve as an important catalyst to protect our natural capital and create the conditions through which business and communities can thrive sustainably.

We welcome the leadership shown by the “Core Group” of countries (Costa Rica, Maldives, Morocco, Slovenia and Switzerland) at the Human Rights Council and appreciate the significance of 69 countries supporting the Core Group’s statement. We wish to express our support for this process and our thanks for the commitment to serve the best interests of present and future generations.

We too are committed to this common work. We recognise that the realisation of the targets contained within the Sustainable Development Goals, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change requires the steadfast commitment of the business community and we are rising to that challenge.

We wish to stand alongside states, civil society organisations, environmental defenders and UN entities calling for the universal recognition of the right to a healthy and sustainable environment, so that we can ensure no one is left behind in a just transition to a​n equitable, nature-positive and carbon neutral world.

Signed,

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Signatories

ACCEDO
adidas
AGROVELI SAC
Allianz SE
Banka BioLoo Limited
Better2Earth
Beaumont People
Business for Nature (B4N)
BZLW GmbH.
Don Maslow Coffee
EcoCoast Consultancy
Ellers Farm Distillery
Futureproof
Future Super
FWE WESTERN ENERGY
Global Conservation Solutions
Green Touches
Green Urbanics
H&M Group
Holcim
IMAGINE WORLD LTD
Ingka Group
Junxion Strategy
Lab Toekomstige Generaties
Lateral Agency | VDF
Lightbridge Corporation
Marca LIMA
Natura & Co
OBERLAND INC
On Purpose
Organic & Regenerative Investment Cooperative
PACCOR Packaging GMBH
Quorn Foods
Renewal Funds Management Company
S Group/SOK Corporation
Safaricom PLC
Sailmon bv
Salesforce.com, Inc.
SANIPODI Singe Member PC
Seas The Opportunity
Singular.live
Symrise
The B Team
The Cause Effect
The Environment Bank Ltd
The 99% Organisation
Toast Ale
Unearth Technologies Pty Ltd
Unilever
Vantage Communications Ltd
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)