The Relationship between Business and the Human Right to a Healthy Environment: a View on the Role of the Technology Sector.

The Human Rights Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations have recently recognized the existence of a human right to a healthy environment, culminating a path that had already been started at the international level several decades ago and that had also seen the appointment of an ad hoc Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment. The discourse around this specific human right has to do with both protecting the environment from pollution and fighting the effects of climate change, insofar as these phenomena can undermine the environment in which man is placed. A prominent role here is played by business enterprises, which are capable of heavily affecting a wide range of human rights, including the right to a healthy environment. In fact, the UN Guiding Principles on Business and human rights, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and also the Draft Binding Treaty on Business and human rights, all take into account the environmental impact of business activities and suggest incorporating the concerns of sustainable development. Furthermore, the EU Proposal for a Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, issued in February 2022, also has the explicit purpose of addressing adverse human rights and environmental impacts, including in the value chains. The following paper will aim to analyse the relationship between business activities and the right to a healthy environment, with specific reference to digital enterprises. These companies can affect human rights in a completely new and unforeseen way, due to their peculiarities. For this reason, they have been addressed by a specific project of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (B-Tech project). At the same time, technological progress (especially digital technologies), can play a decisive role in the preservation of a safe, sustainable, and healthy environment: some notable examples are in the fields of industry, manufacturing, agriculture, and energy consumption. This paper has the purpose of understanding the role that international law can play to further progress in this field.