A/HRC/43/43 (d) All laws and policies related to rent and mortgage arrears and foreclosures should be reviewed to ensure consistency with the right to adequate housing, including the obligation to prevent any eviction resulting in homelessness. 79 States should require banks and other lenders to remove barriers to access to credit for women, young families, residents of informal settlements and others in need of housing finance. Guideline No. 13. Ensure that the right to housing informs and is responsive to climate change and address the effects of the climate crisis on the right to housing 70. Natural disasters and the climate crisis have enormous impacts on the enjoyment of the right to housing, with exponential increases in these effects anticipated in decades to come. Climate-fuelled disasters were the primary driver of internal displacement during the past decade, forcing an estimated 20 million people a year from their homes. 80 Those living in homelessness or lacking access to resilient or secure housing are the most adversely affected, as they often live in areas that are vulnerable to floods, hurricanes and cyclones, storm surges, mudslides, earthquakes and tsunamis. Moreover, States taking disaster risk management measures often fail to consider their effects on vulnerable communities and their right to housing. 71. The manner in which the right to housing is to be realized also has implications for climate change. It has been estimated that the building and construction sector accounts for 39 per cent of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, most of which is concentrated in middle- and high-income countries. 81 It is in low-income countries, however, that the greatest amount of construction will be required if target 11.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals are to be achieved. States individually and the international community as a whole must respond urgently to the climate crisis while also ensuring access to sustainable housing, prioritizing those most in need. 72. Implementation measures: (a) The right to adequate housing should be integrated into strategies for the adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, as well as in planning, preparing and implementing strategies for addressing climate change displacement. 82 States should ensure that these strategies do not undermine or impede the realization of the right to adequate housing; (b) In situations where communities are particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change and climate change-related disasters, such as those living on or near waterways and shorelines, priority should be given to adaptation measures to preserve existing communities. In that regard, States must consult with residents to identify the measures needed for their protection. Such measures may include ensuring that communities are able to retain technical experts, installing protective infrastructure, moving some households to safer sites within the community and ensuring that adequate resources are available for the implementation of such measures; 83 (c) While making every effort to mitigate climate change, States should conduct thorough analyses of anticipated climate displacement, determine likely time frames and identify communities at risk and possible relocation sites. Where relocation is deemed necessary or chosen by the community, it should be implemented in a manner consistent with the basic principles and guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement and with guidelines No. 6 and No. 7 above; 79 80 81 82 83 18 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 7, para. 16. Oxfam, “Forced from home: climate-fuelled displacement”, Oxfam Media Briefing (2 December 2019). United Nations Environment Programme and International Energy Agency, Towards a Zero-emission, Efficient and Resilient Buildings and Construction Sector: Global Status Report 2017 (2017), p. 6. A/HRC/16/42. A/64/255, para. 74.