A/HRC/43/53 42. The Dominican Republic, France and the Philippines explicitly recognize the right to breathe clean air. In India and Pakistan, courts have clarified that the right to breathe clean air is constitutionally protected because it is essential to the rights to life and health. In Lebanon, the National Strategy for Air Quality Management states that “every citizen has the right to enjoy clean air”. 43. There is compelling evidence to suggest that enacting and enforcing strong air quality regulations save lives and prevent illnesses. Since the Clean Air Act was enacted in 1970, the American economy has grown by 262 per cent (measured by increased GDP) while achieving an average reduction of 73 per cent for the six main air pollutants. The costs of the Clean Air Act are measured in billions of dollars, while the benefits are in the trillions. 15 Reduced air pollution in California resulted in significant improvements in children’s lung function. 16 44. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Singapore, Slovakia and Turkmenistan recently enacted stronger air quality laws or regulations. National action plans to improve air quality are being developed or implemented in Bahrain, Colombia, Ireland, Kuwait, Montenegro and Uruguay. 45. Household air pollution from the use of inefficient stoves burning biomass, kerosene and coal causes millions of premature deaths every year. Women and children face the highest risks. The most rapid progress in providing access to clean cooking, through either liquefied petroleum gas, piped natural gas or electricity, has been achieved in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Sudan and Viet Nam.17 46. Two initiatives that have dramatically improved air quality in many countries are the phasing-out of leaded gasoline and major reductions in the sulphur content of transport fuels. These actions have produced enormous health, environmental and economic benefits, valued in the trillions of dollars.18 47. In large cities in States from Germany and the United Kingdom to China and Mexico, low emission zones have been established to reduce pollution from motor vehicles and to protect public health. Entry into low emission zones is restricted to vehicles that meet specific emission standards. 2. A safe climate 48. Because of human activities, the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are at their highest level in millions of years, causing climate change and a devastating array of effects, from droughts and floods to rising sea levels and more intense extreme weather events. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned that “the world has never seen a human rights threat of this scope.”19 49. The historic inclusion of human rights in the Paris Agreement indicated that human rights should be at the heart of all climate action, including legislation, mitigation, adaptation, finance, and loss and damage. 50. Nine States now include responsibilities relating to climate change in their Constitutions: Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Thailand, Tunisia, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Viet Nam and Zambia. Draft constitutions in the Gambia and Yemen also include references to addressing climate change. 15 16 17 18 19 See The Benefits and Costs of the Clean Air Act from 1990 to 2020, United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2011. W. James Gauderman, Robert Urman, Edward Avol et al., “Association of improved air quality with lung development in children”, New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 372, pp. 905–913. Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report 2018, International Energy Agency, World Bank et al., 2019. Elise Gould, “Childhood lead poisoning: conservative estimates of the social and economic benefits of lead hazard control”, Environmental Health Perspectives, vol. 117, No. 7 (July 2009), pp. 1162– 1167. “Climate change is greatest ever threat to human rights, UN warns”, Guardian, 9 September 2019. 9