III 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. CON. RES. 22 

Expressing the sense of Congress that there is a climate emergency which 

demands a massive-scale mobilization to halt, reverse, and address its 

consequences and causes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 17, 2019 

Mr. SANDERS (for himself, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. BOOKER, 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. WARREN, and Ms. HARRIS) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Environment and Public Works 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress that there is a climate 

emergency which demands a massive-scale mobilization 

to halt, reverse, and address its consequences and causes. 

Whereas 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 were the 4 hottest 

years on record and the 20 warmest years on record have 

occurred within the past 22 years; 

Whereas global atmospheric concentrations of the primary 

heat-trapping gas, or greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide— 

(1) have increased by 40 percent since preindustrial 

times, from 280 parts per million to 415 parts per million, primarily due to human activities, including burning 

fossil fuels and deforestation; 


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(2) are rising at a rate of 2 to 3 parts per million 

annually; and 

(3) must be reduced to not more than 350 parts per 

million, and likely lower, ‘‘if humanity wishes to preserve 

a planet similar to that on which civilization developed 

and to which life on Earth is adapted,’’ according to 

former National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

climatologist, Dr. James Hansen; 

Whereas global atmospheric concentrations of other greenhouse gases, including methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrofluorocarbons, have also increased substantially since 

preindustrial times, primarily due to human activities, including burning fossil fuels; 

Whereas current climate science and real-world observations 

of climate change impacts, including ocean warming and 

acidification, floods, droughts, wildfires, and extreme 

weather, demonstrate that a global rise in temperatures 

of 1 degree Celsius above preindustrial levels is already 

having dangerous impacts on human populations and the 

environment; 

Whereas the 2018 National Climate Assessment found that 

climate change due to global warming has caused, and is 

expected to cause additional, substantial interference with 

and growing losses to infrastructure, property, industry, 

recreation, natural resources, agricultural systems, 

human health and safety, and quality of life in the 

United States; 

Whereas the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has determined that climate change is already increasing the frequency of extreme weather and other climate-related disasters, including drought, wildfire, and 

storms that include precipitation; 


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Whereas climate-related natural disasters have increased exponentially over the past decade, costing the United 

States more than double the long-term average during 

the period of 2014 through 2018, with total costs of natural disasters during that period of approximately 

$100,000,000,000 per year; 

Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

have found wide-ranging, acute, and fatal public health 

consequences from climate change that impact communities across the United States; 

Whereas the National Climate and Health Assessment of the 

United States Global Change Research Program identified climate change as a significant threat to the health 

of the people of the United States, leading to increased— 

(1) temperature-related deaths and illnesses; 

(2) air quality impacts; 

(3) extreme weather events; 

(4) numbers of vector-borne diseases; 

(5) waterborne illnesses; 

(6) food safety, nutrition, and distribution complications; and 

(7) mental health and well-being concerns; 

Whereas the consequences of climate change already disproportionately impact frontline communities and endanger populations made especially vulnerable by existing exposure to extreme weather events, such as children, the 

elderly, and individuals with pre-existing disabilities and 

health conditions; 

Whereas individuals and families on the frontlines of climate 

change across the United States, including territories, living with income inequality and poverty, institutional racism, inequity on the basis of gender and sexual orientaVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:47 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SC22.IS SC22

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tion, poor infrastructure, and lack of access to health 

care, housing, clean water, and food security are often in 

close proximity to environmental stressors or sources of 

pollution, particularly communities of color, indigenous 

communities, and low-income communities, which— 

(1) experience outsized risk because of the close 

proximity of the community to environmental hazards 

and stressors, in addition to colocation with waste and 

other sources of pollution; 

(2) are often the first exposed to the impacts of climate change; and 

(3) have the fewest resources to mitigate those impacts or to relocate, which will exacerbate preexisting 

challenges; 

Whereas, according to Dr. Robert Bullard and Dr. Beverly 

Wright, ‘‘environmental and public health threats from 

natural and human-made disasters are not randomly distributed,’’ therefore a response to the climate emergency 

necessitates the adoption of just community transition 

policies and processes available to all communities, which 

include policies and processes rooted in principles of racial and socio-economic equity, self-determination, and 

democracy, as well as the fundamental human right of all 

people to clean air and water, healthy food, health care, 

adequate land, education, and shelter; 

Whereas climate change holds grave and immediate consequences not just for the population of the United 

States, including territories, but for communities across 

the world, particularly those communities in the Global 

South on the frontlines of the climate crisis, which are 

at risk of forced displacement; 


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Whereas communities in rural, urban, and suburban areas 

are all dramatically affected by climate change, though 

the specific economic, health, social, and environmental 

impacts may be different; 

Whereas the United States Department of State, Department 

of Defense, and intelligence community have identified 

climate change as a threat to national security, and the 

Department of Homeland Security views climate change 

as a top homeland security risk; 

Whereas climate change is a threat multiplier— 

(1) with the potential to exacerbate many of the 

challenges the United States already confronts, including 

conflicts over scarce resources, conditions conducive to 

violent extremism, and the spread of infectious diseases; 

and 

(2) because climate change has the potential to 

produce new, unforeseeable challenges in the future; 

Whereas, in 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental 

Panel on Climate Change projected that the Earth could 

warm 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels as 

early as 2030; 

Whereas the climatic changes resulting from global warming 

above 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, including changes resulting from global warming of more 

than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, are projected to result in irreversible, catastrophic changes to 

public health, livelihoods, quality of life, food security, 

water supplies, human security, and economic growth; 

Whereas, in 2019, the United Nations Intergovernmental 

Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem 

Services found that human-induced climate change is 


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pushing the planet toward the sixth mass species extinction, which threatens the food security, water supply, and 

well-being of billions of people; 

Whereas, according to climate scientists, limiting warming to 

no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, and likely lower, is most likely to avoid irreversible 

and catastrophic climate change; 

Whereas, even with global warming up to 1.5 degrees Celsius 

above preindustrial levels, the planet is projected to experience— 

(1) a significant rise in sea levels; 

(2) extraordinary loss of biodiversity; and 

(3) intensifying droughts, prodigious floods, devastating wildfires, and other extreme weather events; 

Whereas, according to climate scientists, addressing the climate emergency will require an economically just and 

managed phase-out oil, gas, and coal to keep fossil fuels 

in the ground; 

Whereas the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has determined that limiting warming 

through emissions reduction and carbon sequestration 

will require rapid, and immediate, acceleration and proliferation of ‘‘far-reaching, multilevel, and cross-sectoral 

climate mitigation’’ and ‘‘transitions in energy, land, 

urban and rural infrastructure (including transport and 

buildings), and industrial systems’’; 

Whereas, in the United States, massive, comprehensive, and 

urgent governmental action is required immediately to 

achieve the transitions of those systems in response to 

the severe existing and projected economic, social, public 


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health, and national security threats posed by the climate 

crisis; 

Whereas the massive scope and scale of action necessary to 

stabilize the climate will require unprecedented levels of 

public awareness, engagement, and deliberation to develop and implement effective, just, and equitable policies 

to address the climate crisis; 

Whereas failure to mobilize to solve the climate emergency is 

antithetical to the spirit of the Declaration of Independence in protecting ‘‘unalienable Rights’’ that include 

‘‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’’; 

Whereas the United States has a proud history of collaborative, constructive, massive-scale Federal mobilizations 

of resources and labor in order to solve great challenges, 

such as the Interstate Highway System, the Apollo 11 

Moon landing, Reconstruction, the New Deal, and World 

War II; 

Whereas the United States stands uniquely poised to substantially grow the economy and attain social and health 

benefits from a massive mobilization of resources and 

labor that far outweigh the costs of inaction; 

Whereas millions of middle class jobs can be created by raising labor standards through project labor agreements and 

protecting and expanding the right of workers to organize 

so that workers in the United States and the communities of those workers are guaranteed a strong, viable 

economic future in a zero-emissions economy that guarantees good jobs at fair union wages, with quality benefits; 

Whereas frontline communities, Tribal governments and communities, people of color, and labor unions must be equiVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:47 Jul 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SC22.IS SC22

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tably and actively engaged in the climate mobilization 

and prioritized through local climate mitigation and adaptation planning, policy, and program delivery so that 

workers in the United States, the communities of those 

workers, are guaranteed a strong, viable economic future; 

Whereas a number of local jurisdictions and governments in 

the United States, including New York City and Los Angeles, and across the world, including the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Portugal, and Canada, 

have already declared a climate emergency, and a number 

of State and local governments are considering declaring 

a climate emergency in response to the massive challenges posed by the climate crisis; 

Whereas State, local, and Tribal governments must be supported in efforts to hold to account actors whose activities have deepened and accelerated the climate crisis and 

who have benefitted from delayed action to address the 

climate change emergency and to develop a fossil fuel-free 

economy; 

Whereas a collaborative response to the climate crisis will require the Federal Government to work with international, 

State, and local governments, including with those governments that have declared a climate emergency, to reverse the impacts of the climate crisis; and 

Whereas the United States has an obligation, as a driver of 

accelerated climate change, to mobilize at emergency 

speed to restore a safe climate and environment not just 

for communities of the United States, including territories, but for communities across the world, particularly 

those on the frontlines of the climate crisis who have 

least contributed to the crisis, and to account for global 


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and community impacts of any actions it takes in response to the climate crisis: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) the global warming caused by human activi4 ties, which increase emissions of greenhouse gases, 

5 has resulted in a climate emergency that— 

6 (A) severely and urgently impacts the eco7 nomic and social well-being, health and safety, 

8 and national security of the United States; and 

9 (B) demands a national, social, industrial, 

10 and economic mobilization of the resources and 

11 labor of the United States at a massive-scale to 

12 halt, reverse, mitigate, and prepare for the con13 sequences of the climate emergency and to re14 store the climate for future generations; and 

15 (2) nothing in this concurrent resolution con16 stitutes a declaration of a national emergency for 

17 purposes of any Act of Congress authorizing the ex18 ercise, during the period of a national emergency or 

19 other type of declared emergency, of any special or 

20 extraordinary power. 

Æ 


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