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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello!

Now that the United Nations COP28 has come to a close with a deal, it’s time to take a look at all the other relevant environmental, social and governance (ESG) developments that have been taking place.

This week, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak won a vote in parliament over a bill which he hopes will allow Britain to send asylum seekers who arrive illegally in Britain to Rwanda.

Last month, the British Supreme Court declared the policy unlawful, but Sunak hopes the new legislation, when passed, will fulfill his pledge to stop people arriving across the Channel in small boats.

But what is the Rwanda plan and what’s it got to do with ESG? First, let’s tackle the details about the plan and the migration issue.

Here’s what else is on my radar today:

• Takeaways from the COP28 climate deal
• Swedish greenhouse gases up 7% due to Nord Stream leak
• Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon down 64% in November

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, meet during Kagame’s visit to the UK at 10 Downing Street, London, Britain. Stefan Rousseau/Pool via REUTERS

Under the plan, anyone who arrived in Britain illegally after Jan. 1, 2022, faced being sent to Rwanda, some 4,000 miles (6,400 km) away.

However, the first deportation flight in June 2022 was blocked by the European Court of Human Rights.

Last month, the UK Supreme Court ruled Sunak’s policy of deporting to Rwanda those arriving illegally in small boats on England’s southern coast would breach British and international human rights laws and agreements.

The reason behind the ruling was because migrants were at risk of being sent back to their homelands or to other countries where they would be at risk of mistreatment.

Despite no deportations taking place, Britain has already paid Rwanda 240 million pounds ($304.25 million). While Britain hopes to send thousands of migrants, at the moment Rwanda only has the capacity to take a few hundred.

Human rights is part of the ‘s’ in ESG, which the topic of migration falls under.

Additionally, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals state, “it is imperative to improve the situation of refugees, internally displaced and stateless people and to implement sustainable solutions, particularly in conflict-affected regions”.

Last year, the U.N High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) highlighted damning evidence of systemic defects in Rwanda’s asylum system and why it should not be a location to “offshore” refugees and migrants.

The UNHCR found a potential lack of independence of the judiciary and lawyers, and the 100% rejection rate for people from conflict zones, namely Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen – likely countries of origin of asylum seekers transferred from the UK.

The UNHCR also presented at least 100 allegations of refoulement – or the return of refugees or asylum seekers to countries where they are likely to face persecution – a practice that continued after the UK agreement was concluded.

To address the issues raised by the Supreme Court, Sunak has agreed a new treaty with Rwanda that seeks to prevent anyone from being sent anywhere else other than back to Britain.

His emergency legislation affirms that Rwanda is a safe country, despite the findings of the UNHCR.

The new plan also disapplies some sections of Britain’s Human Rights Act and says ministers alone would decide on whether to comply with any injunction from the European Court of Human Rights.

If passed, Sunak says flights to Rwanda will begin early next year.

However, his right-wing critics, many of whom want Britain to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, have said it still allows legal challenges. His immigration minister quit.

Palestinians wounded in Israeli strikes are rushed into Nasser hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Bassam Masoud

Sébastien Duyck, senior attorney and human rights & climate campaign manager at the Center for International Environmental Law, shares his thoughts on the interconnectedness of human rights and climate change:

“The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has repeatedly emphasized that equitable, participatory, and socially inclusive governance is the only viable route to achieving sustainable climate action.

“Yet, the reality is grim, with civic society spaces shrinking globally. The UNFCCC, despite its limitations, remains a crucial forum for advocating for human rights-based climate action.

“To accelerate the decarbonization and detoxification of our economies, we must seek a fair, fast, full, and funded phasing out of fossil fuels.

“While doing that, we must not fall for false solutions and harmful distractions like carbon offsets and techno fixes that delay climate action while resulting in additional harms for Indigenous Peoples and local communities.

“The mobilization of adequate financial resources to address the ongoing climate-related damages is critically overdue. Wealthier nations must fulfill their obligations and provide substantial and additional funding.

“Climate agreements must be wielded not as a shield to hide inadequate national policies, but as a sword to drive greater ambition and enforce accountability.” 

Plans by New Zealand’s conservative government to roll back Maori rights reforms have revived race as a hot political issue in the Pacific nation, which was previously lauded globally for its advances on Indigenous matters.

Thousands of protesters have taken to New Zealand’s streets this month against proposed legislation and plans that critics describe as the most significant step backwards for Maori rights in decades, but which the new government says address voters’ concerns about the direction of the policy in recent years.

Bolivian rescuer de-oil rescued birds after spill in Lake Titicaca. La Paz, Bolivia.  Activista Ana Serrano APLAB / REUTERS

Today’s spotlight shines a light on conservation efforts in South America as rescuers in Bolivia are working to de-oil birds after a spill in Lake Titicaca, while the great-grandnephew of Alfred Nobel is offering a “Green Nobel” prize to environmental champions of the Amazon rainforest.

The spill in Bolivia came from a vegetable oil truck that overturned in November. Some of the most affected are the Andean coots, a species of bird native to the region. According to local media, over 100 of them have died.

Environmental group APLAB, which is collaborating with the local government in the rescues, has called for the company responsible for the spill to take responsibility for cleaning up the lake and animals.

Herons are seen on the Piraiba river before a summit of Amazon rainforest nations, in Belem, Para state, Brazil August 6, 2023. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Elsewhere, Marcus Nobel, a Swedish-American businessman based in Portland, Oregon, has instituted the annual environmental prize to spotlight projects that are helping preserve and sustain the rainforest and protect its biodiversity, unrelated to the Nobel Foundation.

The United Earth Amazonia prize will be awarded in June to six winners in the 130-year-old Opera House in Manaus. Prize money has yet to be decided, organizers said.

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