General Comment 27 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the environmental dimension of sustainable development: A promising development to be handled with care

General Comment 27 from the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR or the Committee) is the Committee's most comprehensive consideration of the interrelationship between the environment and economic, social and cultural rights. It explores subjects that are not expressly included in the text of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR or the Covenant), although they form part of the Committee's established practice as it relates to the environment. The general comment therefore engages in an interpretive evolution of ICESCR in order to maintain the effectiveness of the Covenant in the face of contemporary threats. This is a necessary evolution of the rights and obligations in the Covenant, but one that must be handled with care to ensure that the Committee remains within the scope of its mandate and the object and purpose of ICESCR. This opinion sets out the background and context for this significant general comment and examines some noteworthy developments and their implications for the mandate and practice of the Committee.