The General Recommendation is the first interpretive guidance on disaster risk reduction and climate change to be issued by a United Nations human rights treaty body to support the efforts of States parties. The Committee emphasizes that the disproportionate impact that climate change and disasters have on women and girls must be addressed through women’s empowerment and by achieving substantive gender equality... The need for concerted efforts cannot be overemphasized as the adverse impacts of climate change and disasters are trans-boundary. In the General Recommendation, the Committee underscores that States have obligations both within and outside their territory to ensure the full implementation of the Convention, including in the areas of disaster risk reduction and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Measures such as limiting fossil fuel use, reducing trans-boundary pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and promoting the transition to renewable energies are regarded as crucial steps in mitigating the negative human rights impact of climate change and disasters globally. Any steps taken by States to prevent, mitigate and respond to climate change and disasters within their own jurisdictions and extraterritorially must be firmly grounded in the human rights principles of substantive equality and non-discrimination, participation and empowerment, accountability and access to justice, transparency and rule of law.