Methane and the Climate Emergency: An Urgent Call to Protect the Right to a Healthy Environment in the Americas

June 5, 2025

Washington, DC—On the occasion of World Environment Day, the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights (REDESCA) of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) calls on States in the region to strengthen environmental protection through a human rights-based approach. In particular, REDESCA urges the adoption of effective measures for the substantial reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, with special emphasis on methane, due to its high short-term global warming potential. Guaranteeing the right to a healthy environment—recognized by the Inter-American System as an autonomous and justiciable right—requires urgent action to reduce anthropogenic emissions, in line with international environmental commitments and Inter-American human rights standards.

Methane emissions from human activities account for approximately one-third of current global warming, according to recent studies. Without bold action, the global climate crisis will continue to have devastating implications for human rights, making the rapid reduction of greenhouse gases such as methane not only necessary to combat climate change, but also essential to ensuring the right of all people to live in a healthy environment, along with other human rights.

The Special Rapporteur recalls that Article 11 of the Protocol of San Salvador recognizes the right of every person to live in a healthy environment and to have access to basic public services and places an obligation on States to promote its protection, preservation, and improvement. In the same vein, Resolution 3/2021 on the Climate Emergency, adopted by REDESCA and the IACHR, identifies environmental degradation as one of the main causes of irreversible harm to both human beings and nature. Consequently, the right to a healthy environment is a fundamental pillar for ensuring the survival of humanity and all forms of life on the planet.

That resolution also establishes the direct relationship between rising greenhouse gas emissions and the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, significantly amplifying the risks to individuals, communities, and ecosystems. It therefore underscores the duty of States to adopt and implement public policies aimed at reducing emissions, guided by the highest levels of climate ambition, enhancing resilience to the impacts of climate change, and ensuring that all public and private investments align with a sustainable development model grounded in human rights.

In this context, it is essential to identify the main sources of methane emissions in the region. These include energy sector operations—particularly the extraction, processing, and transport of oil and gas—intensive agriculture, especially livestock farming, and open-air landfills. The latter represent a particularly relevant and often underestimated source. The anaerobic decomposition of organic waste in these sites significantly contributes to global methane emissions. Methane is the second-largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. Globally, the waste sector is the third-largest anthropogenic source of methane, accounting for approximately 20% of total emissions.

REDESCA urges that State responses to protecting the right to a healthy environment be rooted in human rights, incorporate an intersectional and territorial approach, and be based on the best available scientific evidence. In this context, it is imperative that States adopt effective and ambitious public policies to reduce methane emissions, while also recognizing and strengthening the strategic role of waste pickers in the transition toward more sustainable and equitable waste management systems. Only through decisive action, consistent with the standards of the Inter-American Human Rights System, will it be possible to guarantee the right to a healthy environment and effectively protect the economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights of all people, especially those in situations of heightened vulnerability.

The Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights is a permanent office of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), created to strengthen the promotion and protection of economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights throughout the Americas. The Office leads the Commission's work in this area.

No. RD114/25

9:30 AM