Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment

Friends of the Earth have made this submission in advance of the visit of UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, Astrid Puentes Riañoto, to Ireland in February 2026.

The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment and her visit to Ireland provides an unparalleled opportunity to embed energy and environmental policy within a human rights framework. For the purposes of our submission, we have focused on four key environmental and
climate challenges: Ireland’s emissions trajectory, fossil fuel phaseout, data centres and energy poverty.

Read our submission to the UN Special Rapporteur here 

A Special Rapporteur is an independent expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme. The Special Rapporteur's findings and recommendations to the Government of Ireland and other stakeholders will ultimately be included in a report presented to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2027.