UN Rapporteur Signals Legal Shift To Hold Air Polluters Accountable

While air pollution claims more than eight million lives annually, the burden of proving exactly which air polluters or tailpipes caused a specific lung cancer or child’s asthma attack has rested firmly on the shoulders of the sick.

That is about to change, according to a landmark United Nations (UN) report by Astrid Puentes Riaño, Special Rapporteur on the right to a clean environment, presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva.

She signals a seismic shift in international jurisprudence: moving the burden of proof away from the victims and onto the state, ultimately targeting the polluters.

This mechanism suggests that once dangerous pollution levels and health harms are established in an area, the onus shifts to holding governments accountable when they fail to prevent exposure to dangerous contamination.

“Legally speaking, there is a conclusion from the Inter-American system and also the European system that whenever there are victims of air pollution, and there is clarity of the high risks that air pollution has on their health and their life, then we have to change the burden of proof,” Puentes Riaño said in an interview with Health Policy Watch.

The report of the renowned environmental lawyer highlights that this legal precedent has already been set. Relying on recent landmark cases before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights – a case she litigated herself – and the European Court of Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur emphasized that state responsibility is established if exposure is demonstrated alongside a failure to prevent contamination by air polluters.

The mandate calls on all states to universally recognize this jurisprudence and implement domestic regulations that “place the burden of proof on the polluter by requiring injunctive relief in the form of payment of fees and penalties.” This will protect populations who suffer from respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

“People should not be having to prove the link because that’s very difficult legally,” Puentes Riaño added. “That should be assumed, and then it’s for the state to actually change the burden of proof”.

Subsidies for air polluters exacerbate crisis

Implementing this legal shift and combatting the air pollution crisis requires overcoming financial roadblocks. The Special Rapporteur’s presentation to the council highlighted the major difference between government investments in public health versus heavily polluting industries.

Between 2018 and 2024, an average of $600 billion was spent globally per year subsidizing fossil fuels, while only $3.6 billion was invested annually in controlling outdoor air pollution – less than 1% of the spend on subsidies, Puentes Riaño noted during the Geneva discussions.

“There is money in the world, and we know that; unfortunately, there’s more money being used for fossil fuels and war,” she stated.

Consequently, 99% of the global population breathes toxic air, with the highest levels concentrated in low- and middle-income countries.

Pollution has also been exported from the Global North to the Global South, yet international accountability for air polluters remains limited, added Weenarin Lulitanonda, co-founder of the Thailand Clean Air Network.

In Southeast Asia, nearly 20% of Thailand’s 65 million people suffer from illnesses related to atmospheric toxicity. “If you live in Chiang Mai right now, about four to five months of the year you’re breathing in toxic air,” Lulitanonda said.

Battling the respiratory emergency on the ground

Polluted air frequently leads to worsening anxiety disorders, cognitive developmental delays and respiratory distress in early childhood. At the panel discussion, civil society advocates detailed the lifelong harms inflicted on children in India.

“For a long time, air pollution was considered an environmental hazard … but the health connect came only when these stories were told,” Bhavreen Kandhari, co-founder of the Warrior Moms movement in India, explained. “When a mother speaks, then everyone states their own experiences, and that is how the impact started to show”.

Kandhari asked that clean air standards be legally enforced rather than treated as recommendations. Her testimony underscored the Special Rapporteur’s finding that structural inequalities create “sacrifice zones,” where marginalized communities face cumulative health harms from nearby air polluters.

Experts note that overcoming this environmental blight requires predictable public finance and international solidarity. Roqaya Dhaif, a human rights policy specialist at the UN Development Programme, stated during the debate that developing nations require reliable technology transfers and capacity building to transition towards clean energy.

“The root causes of pollution are in fact development challenges,” Dhaif said. “To truly tackle air pollution, we must address it through integrated, equitable development policies”.

WHO data highlights scale of atmospheric toxicity

Recent scientific data from the World Health Organization (WHO) demonstrates that this respiratory emergency is a leading global cause of death.

Rüdiger Krech, interim director of the WHO department of environment, climate change and health, outlined the physiological impacts of toxic air to the delegates.

“Fine particulate matters penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, triggering asthma attacks in children, heart attacks and strokes in adults,” Krech said. “These everyday preventable harms highlight why clean air is not only an environmental necessity but a fundamental health right”.

These everyday preventable harms highlight why clean air is not only an environmental necessity but a fundamental health right. To assist member Ssates in tracking national progress on these exposures and policies, the WHO recently updated its Health and Environment Scorecards, condensing 25 key indicators into a single summary score.

“Tackling environmental risks isn’t optional – it’s a prescription for better health, stronger economies, and a safer future,” Maria Neira, WHO director of Environment, Climate Change and Health, stated. “You can’t have healthy people on a sick planet”.

To advance this, a new voluntary target calls on all countries to cut the health impacts of air pollution by 50% by 2040.

Fossil fuel producers hit brakes on action

While most countries supported the report’s findings and the necessity of concrete measures, representatives from major fossil fuel-producing countries responded with caution to the call to drastically reduce emissions from air polluters.

Saudi Arabia, speaking on behalf of the Arab Group, argued that the right to a clean environment must be “progressively implemented”. The delegation stated that tackling the issue requires an approach that respects national circumstances and the specific features of each country, signalling a desire for more time to implement measures without disrupting their economies.

Other oil- and gas-producing nations echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the need to balance environmental protection with domestic economic development.

Oman advocated for a framework that “balances between economic growth and conservation of natural resources”. Similarly, Bahrain highlighted its 2060 net-zero targets but insisted that international efforts must be based on “common differentiated responsibilities”.

This approach contrasted sharply with the requests expressed by vulnerable nations facing the brunt of the environmental blight, with the Marshall Islands explicitly demanding concrete steps to “rapidly and equitably transition away from production and use of fossil fuel”.

Corporate complicity shields air polluters

This would also require confronting the corporate actors and business interests that delay health-based regulations. The report notes that influence from sectors linked to emission drivers continues to weaken environmental measures.

The pushback is a daily reality for policymakers attempting to strengthen air quality frameworks, Puentes Riaño confirmed. She noted that state authorities frequently encounter resistance from industries claiming that clean air measures are too costly or impossible to implement.

“When it comes to actually pushing for legislation behind the scenes, it is big corporations, the big polluters that are pushing back on this,” Thailand Clean Air Network’s Lulitanonda added. ”

Corporations will only internalize the externalities if it’s mandated or required; there’s no other way,” explained the economist who specializes in the ‘hidden costs’ of environmental degradation.

To achieve this, businesses must conduct human rights due diligence and comply with environmental licensing conditions, Puentes Riaño states in her report. Shifting the burden of proof, alongside imposing injunctive fees, would force air polluters to prioritize public health over unregulated expansion.

Charting a path forward

This claim was countered by Roberto Céspedes, Minister Counselor at the permanent mission of Costa Rica. “Taking care of the environment is good business,” he said. “It will, of course, cost money at the beginning, but it will save countless more in the future, and it makes economic sense to invest in this.”

Protecting public health from toxic emissions is increasingly recognized as a catalyst for sustainable development rather than a barrier to economic growth. A transition to renewable energy sources mitigates climate change and reduces the healthcare burdens associated with the respiratory emergency, the report states.

To prevent further harm, the report advises enacting a presumption against granting permits for new contaminating facilities in already overburdened communities, while requiring rigorous environmental, social, and human rights impact assessments—including specific health evaluations—for any major polluting activities

Puentes Riaño plans to take these findings to the upcoming World Health Assembly and international climate negotiations. By shifting the burden of proof and demanding strict corporate accountability, the international community has the tools necessary to regulate air polluters and protect future generations, she stated.

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