Our cover feature, The UN versus Big Oil, captures the moment well. As we were putting finishing touches to this edition, UN Secretary-General António Guterres launched his most aggressive attack yet on the fossil fuel companies most responsible for the climate crisis. ‘We must directly confront those in the fossil fuel industry who have shown relentless zeal for obstructing progress – over decades’, he said, calling those responsible ‘godfathers of climate chaos’. The gloves are well and truly off.

As Global Insight has documented over the past 15 years, the legal profession and the courts have taken on an increasingly significant role in this fight. There’s now serious scrutiny of the obligations of companies under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and ever-more climate litigation holding companies and governments to account for their role in contributing to, or failing to address, the climate crisis. In its 2023 Global Climate Litigation Report, the UN predicts a continuing increase in cases relying on human rights, enshrined in international law and national constitutions, to force climate action.

The feature in this edition draws attention to the work of a group of independent human rights experts, appointed and mandated by the UN Human Rights Council, who have themselves confronted oil giant Saudi Aramco and its financiers. For the first time, UN-appointed independent experts have clearly linked the human rights obligations of states and state entities to protecting citizens against the harmful effects of the climate crisis. Having ratified the Paris Agreement in 2016, Saudi Arabia’s government is obliged to significantly reduce its emissions to keep global temperatures from rising above 1.5°C.

During his address, the UN Secretary-General stressed that time was of the essence as the impact of rising temperatures is being felt everywhere in the world, from deadly heatwaves in Asia to devastating floods in Latin America. Guterres stated that many in the oil, gas and coal industries had ‘shamelessly greenwashed’ with lobbying and legal action. As temperatures continue to rise, faster now than ever, and time is running out before these effects become irreversible, this surely has to stop.