A/HRC/43/54 achieve an appropriate balance between environmental protection and development. For example, current knowledge makes it clear that burning existing fossil fuel reserves will exhaust the carbon budget available to stay within the Paris Agreement commitments of holding global warming to 1.5–2.0 degrees Celsius. Therefore, in order to avoid catastrophic climate change and the associated human rights impacts, wealthy States should not be permitting any further exploration for additional reserves of coal, oil or gas (A/73/188). Often there is an excessive focus on the role of the judiciary in addressing violations of the right to a healthy environment, but participants agreed that it was preferable to be proactive and to prevent violations from happening in the first place. Civil servants who assess mining, forestry and other land use permits, approve development applications, conduct environmental assessments, and monitor compliance with environmental laws, regulations, standards and licences are important actors and need training on the implications and implementation of the right to a healthy environment. The same applies to civil servants working in the water, sanitation, agriculture, chemical, transport and building sectors. 61. The role of business must be taken into account in order to make the human right to a healthy environment effective. While States shoulder the responsibility for regulating business activities that could have adverse impacts on human rights, businesses themselves also have responsibilities regarding human rights. Although the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the framework principles on human rights and the environment are a good start, business responsibilities should be elaborated in greater detail. This is particularly important when it relates to the overseas activities of transnational corporations. Another key priority is the development of effective monitoring and remedy mechanisms for human rights abuses caused by corporate activities. There is also a need to raise awareness among investors regarding the human rights impacts of their activities. Banks should be involved more proactively in undertaking due diligence with a good set of safeguards for the protection of human rights and the environment. A good example is the recent decision by the European Investment Bank to terminate future financing for fossil fuel projects.35 There are good practices coming from some businesses, and they should be made widely available and better communicated to other businesses for replication. 62. Participants identified the need to transform society’s myopic focus on gross domestic product and economic growth. Positive examples discussed included the rejection of the primacy of gross domestic product by Bhutan and its replacement with the principle of gross national happiness, the development in New Zealand of a national well-being budget and the enactment of a law in Wales called the Well-being of Future Generations Act. These examples point the way towards different societal priorities, emphasizing human well-being rather than corporate profits, and indicating the need to move from a linear to a circular economy.36 VI. The right to a healthy environment at the global level 63. Participants discussed the importance of recognizing the right to a healthy environment at the global level and the ways of getting there. In light of the global environmental crisis, there was consensus that the time for the global recognition of the right to a healthy environment had arrived. Discussions identified multiple options, including a new global treaty on environmental rights, a third international covenant or an amendment to an existing international covenant, a protocol to one of the existing international covenants or a United Nations resolution. Participants focused the 35 36 Trent Murray with Reuters, “European Investment Bank will stop funding fossil fuel projects by end of 2021”, Euronews, 15 November 2019. Available at www.euronews.com/2019/11/14/phasing-outfossil-fuel-europe-to-discuss-ending-investments-in-coal-oil-and-gas. “The Government of Bhutan recognizes the importance of forests vis à vis the well-being of its people and for a long time has made the conservation of forests and the natural environment top priority in the national development policy. The generation of direct economic revenue from commercial forest harvesting is given low priority.” Available at www.fao.org/3/AC805E/ac805e08.htm. 15