The Right to a Decent Standard of Living: A Practical Tool to Guarantee Basic Needs at the End of the Fossil Fuel Era

This chapter explores the growing challenges of guaranteeing human wellbeing in a context of environmental overshoot and fossil fuel depletion, two factors that impose a drastic reduction of material and energy demands. At present, several planetary boundaries are being trespassed by human societies, mainly as a consequence of the use of fossil fuels and the pursuing of infinite economic growth. As a result, phenomena such as climate change and biodiversity loss are triggering devastating environmental and economic impacts, especially in the Global South. Moreover, the progressive depletion of cheap and easily accessible fossil fuels will have an enormous impact on human economic and social rights, since welfare systems have been built on fossil fuel-dependent infrastructures. Against this backdrop, the primary purpose of this chapter is to examine the role of the right to an adequate standard of living in guaranteeing basic needs directly depending on energy. Its premise is that the absolute standards implied in this right could help to navigate the challenges in the years to come, giving priority to the satisfaction of basic needs, such as access to water, food, and shelter. In addition, this work also discusses the current limitations of the human rights framework to integrate the needs of future generations as well as the concept of planetary boundaries.