A/HRC/41/39 assistance lags far behind loans and only a small fraction goes to the least developed countries.104 53. Mitigation and adaptation projects that are supported by climate funds also have the potential to undermine a range of procedural and substantive human rights (see A/HRC/WG.2/19/CRP.4). Climate finance can exacerbate gender inequality if funders are not attuned to the gendered impacts of climate change and systematic discrimination that women face (A/HRC/41/26, para. 47). Experts have called for the safeguards of the various climate funds and mechanisms to be “made uniform and revised to fully account for human rights considerations” (A/HRC/31/52, para. 61). C. Societal transformation 54. Much of post-industrial poverty reduction and economic growth has been based on unsustainable resource extraction and exploitation. Certain people and countries have become incredibly wealthy through emissions without paying for the costs to the environment and human health, which are borne disproportionately by people in poverty. Staying the course will not preserve growth in the long term, but will be disastrous for the global economy and pull hundreds of millions into poverty. Climate action should not be viewed as an impediment to economic growth but as an impetus for decoupling economic growth from emissions and resource extraction, and a catalyst for a green economic transition, labour rights improvements and poverty elimination efforts. 55. Climate change will require deep structural changes in the world economy. It is imperative that this is done in a way that provides the necessary support, protects workers, creates good jobs and is guided by international labour standards. A robust social safety net and a well-managed transition to a green economy will be the best response to the unavoidable harms that climate change will bring. 105 56. Climate change should be a catalyst for States to fulfil long-ignored and overlooked economic and social rights, including to social security, water and sanitation, education, food, health care, housing and decent work. Revenue from climate action, including emissions control and tax restructuring, should be used to fund social protection programmes to protect those affected. 57. Taking the necessary action to address climate change will likely lead to job losses in certain carbon-intensive sectors. However, according to ILO, they will be more than offset by the new jobs required to limit global warming to 2°C. Transitioning to clean energy alone will create an estimated net increase of 18 million jobs through renewable energy, growth in electric vehicles and increases in the energy efficiency of buildings. Shifting from an economy predicated on consumption to a circular economy underpinned by reuse, recycling and remanufacturing is projected to create another 6 million jobs and a shift to sustainable agriculture presents additional job opportunities. 106 58. The shift will require robust policies at the local level to support displaced workers, facilitate their transition and ensure that new jobs are of good quality. Those policies should include cash transfers, unemployment protection, placement support and relocation grants.107 Unavoidable changes to the economy and the workforce make a strong case for universal job guarantee programmes that provide rights-based work, creating the assets, services and infrastructure for a green transition and disaster mitigation in exchange for a stable income.108 59. If the transition to a sustainable economy is well managed, it could create new and better jobs, move workers into the formal sector, provide education and training, reduce 104 105 106 107 108 Oxfam, “Climate finance shadow report 2018”, p. 3. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Special Report: Global Warming of 1.5ºC, p. 464. ILO, Greening with Jobs. World Employment Social Outlook 2018, p. 1. See ILO, “Guidelines for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all” (2015). See ILO, Greening with jobs. World Employment Social Outlook 2018, p. 110–111. 13