A/HRC/43/53 51. Approximately 140 States have enacted framework climate legislation. 20 The best laws include bold targets, timelines and accountability mechanisms. 21 For example, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Climate Change Act requires a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050 compared to 1990 levels, through legally binding caps on emissions, carbon budgets and various programmes. Elements of the British law have been emulated by other States, such as Denmark, France, Mexico, Norway and Sweden. In Peru, the framework law on climate change (2018) mandates that climate change considerations be incorporated into public spending decisions at all levels of the Government. 52. Long-term plans for achieving deep reductions in emissions by 2050 provide an essential vision as well as certainty to investors that economies will shift away from fossil fuels over the next three decades. Thirteen States have filed long-term de-carbonization plans with the United Nations: Benin, Canada, Czechia, Fiji, France, Germany, Japan, the Marshall Islands, Mexico, Portugal, Ukraine, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America.22 The 2050 Climate Strategy adopted by the Marshall Islands emphasizes a rights-based approach, while Fiji and Mexico make multiple references to human rights in their plans. 53. A growing number of States has incorporated, in law, specific timelines for achieving net-zero carbon emissions, such as Norway (2030), Finland (2035), Sweden (2045), France (2050), New Zealand (2050) and the United Kingdom (2050). Bhutan is already carbon negative and intends to maintain carbon neutrality. Costa Rica, Fiji, Iceland, Ireland, the Marshall Islands, Portugal and Uruguay have made similar but not legally binding commitments. Denmark recently raised its ambition by setting a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 70 per cent by 2030. 54. Dozens of States have substantially reduced their greenhouse gas emissions, led by Czechia, Denmark, Hungary, Slovakia and the United Kingdom, where emissions declined by more than 30 per cent between 1990 and 2017.23 Other State parties included in annex I of the Paris Agreement making progress (namely, those having achieved at least a 20 per cent decline in emissions since 1990) include Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and Sweden. 24 Sweden has reduced emissions by 26 per cent since 1990, while enjoying an increase in GDP of 75 per cent over the same period. 55. Guatemala, Mexico, Morocco and the Philippines provide examples of climate change legislation addressing gender equality. In Mexico, the General Law on Climate Change includes a specific focus on gender equality and empowering women. In the Philippines, the Climate Change Act of 2009 requires the State to incorporate “a gender-sensitive, prochildren and pro-poor perspective” in all climate change and renewable energy efforts, plans and programmes. 56. Uruguay has done an exemplary job of integrating human rights into both the process of climate change policymaking and the substance of the policies produced, such as its national climate change plan. This integration flows from a partnership between the Ministry of Housing, Territorial Planning and Environment and the Secretariat of Human Rights of the Office of the President. 57. Nationally determined contributions comprise the commitments made by States pursuant to the Paris Agreement on a five-year cycle. In the first cycle, 24 such contributions incorporated human rights. Seventeen States committed to taking a rights-based approach to climate action: the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Brazil, Chad, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, 20 21 22 23 24 10 Global trends in climate change legislation and litigation: 2018 snapshot, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. Alina Averchenkova Legislating for a low carbon and climate resilient transition: learning from international experiences, Elcano Policy Paper, 2019. See https://unfccc.int/process/the-paris-agreement/long-term-strategies. Corinne Le Quéré et al., “Drivers of declining CO2 emissions in 18 developed economies”, Nature Climate Change, vol. 9, 2019, pp. 213–17. See https://di.unfccc.int/time_series.