Petition to the United Nations: Make Clean Air a Universal Human Right
- Target:
- United Nations
- Region:
- GLOBAL
We don’t just breathe air — we breathe life
Yet today, our air is being bought and sold in the name of profit — profit that is inseparable from the harm pollution causes.
Masked as a solution to the climate crisis, emission rights have in practice accelerated pollution, becoming “the greatest market failure the world has ever seen”.
Emission rights are the right to pollute. They are like trying to clean a glass with a dirty sponge.
The carbon offsetting scheme promoted by economic elites is not a solution, but a tool to reinforce the privilege of the wealthy minority who are the primary driving force behind climate change.
This system sells the illusion of progress while auctioning off the future. It hands it to the highest bidder, prioritizing profit over public health and awarding billions in free subsidies to the most polluting industries in the world.
We are not shareholders in this scheme. But we are the generation that has to live with the consequences.
It’s time to reclaim the right that has been taken from us. Time to take the air back.
In 2022, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, reaffirming that clean air is not a luxury, but a foundation for life. Yet in many parts of the world, it remains aspirational.
We believe the right to breathe clean air must be affirmed as a basic and actionable human right — protected through shared standards, public transparency, and systems of accountability.
In an era of environmental disruption, rising inequality, and rapid urban expansion, it is no longer acceptable for atmospheric pollution to be treated as a distant or invisible problem. Within this context, emission rights are not a solution to climate change, but a system that allows wealthy nations to outsource environmental responsibility to more vulnerable states.
More than two-thirds of the world’s population now live in areas where air pollution poses serious health risks and shortens lives. According to the World Health Organization, toxic air causes over seven million deaths every year — that is 13 people dying every minute from something as basic as breathing.
If we fail to act now, the next generation may inherit a world where clean air is no longer free.
By signing this petition, we urge governments and institutions to recognize the right to breathe clean air and to take immediate, measurable steps to protect it.
What Needs to Happen Now
We urge governments, international bodies, and public institutions to take the following steps:
• Recognize the right to breathe clean air as a fundamental, universal human right by placing it at the top of the UN’s human rights agenda and embedding it into global frameworks.
• Create clear systems for individuals and communities to seek protection and demand action when the air they breathe endangers their lives.
• Anchor this action in the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, especially Goals 3 (Health), 11 (Sustainable Cities), and 13 (Climate Action).
This is a movement for breath, for dignity, and for a shared future. Join us in making clean air an inalienable human right — not someday, but starting now. For all people. In all places. For all time.
Organized by:
GAIIA Foundation
Aligning law, finance, and ecosystems in service of planetary justice.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Petition to the United Nations: Make Clean Air a Universal Human Right petition to United Nations was written by GAIIA Foundation and is in the category Environment at GoPetition.