I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4986 

To authorize appropriations for climate financing, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 5, 2019 

Mr. ESPAILLAT (for himself, Ms. HAALAND, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. 

HUFFMAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To authorize appropriations for climate financing, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Green Climate Fund 

5 Authorization Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) climate change most severely impacts vul9 nerable and disadvantaged communities in the 

10 United States and around the world; 


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1 (2) it is the responsibility of the United States 

2 Government to work with its global partners to pro3 mote environmental justice and climate justice; 

4 (3) the report of the United Nations Environ5 ment Programme entitled ‘‘Climate Change and the 

6 Cost of Capital in Developing Countries’’, dated May 

7 2018, found that, in the 10 years prior to the publi8 cation of the report, climate vulnerability has cost 

9 the 20 nations most affected by catastrophes rooted 

10 in climate change an additional $62,000,000,000 in 

11 interest payments alone; 

12 (4) individuals and families, particularly com13 munities of color, indigenous communities, and low14 income communities, that are on the frontlines of 

15 climate change across the globe are often in close 

16 proximity to environmental stressors or sources of 

17 pollution; 

18 (5) the communities described in paragraph 

19 (4)— 

20 (A) are often the first exposed to the 

21 causes and impacts of climate change; and 

22 (B) have the fewest resources with which 

23 to mitigate those impacts or to relocate; 

24 (6) all efforts to adapt to and mitigate climate 

25 change must include specific protections for and acVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:55 Nov 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4986.IH H4986

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1 knowledgment of the harm of climate change to 

2 communities of color, indigenous peoples, women, 

3 and other frontline communities and marginalized 

4 peoples around the world; 

5 (7) in Paris, on December 12, 2015, the parties 

6 to the United Nations Framework Convention on 

7 Climate Change adopted the Paris Agreement, a 

8 benchmark agreement— 

9 (A) to combat climate change; and 

10 (B) to accelerate and intensify the actions 

11 and investments needed for a sustainable low 

12 carbon future; 

13 (8) the Paris Agreement, to which the United 

14 States is a party, acknowledges, ‘‘Parties should, 

15 when taking action to address climate change, re16 spect, promote and consider their respective obliga17 tions on human rights, the right to health, the rights 

18 of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants, 

19 children, persons with disabilities and people in vul20 nerable situations and the right to development, as 

21 well as gender equality, empowerment of women and 

22 intergenerational equity’’; 

23 (9) the Paris Agreement— 


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1 (A) notes the importance of ‘‘climate jus2 tice’’ when mitigating and adapting to climate 

3 change; and 

4 (B) recognizes ‘‘the need for an effective 

5 and progressive response to the urgent threat of 

6 climate change’’; 

7 (10) it is imperative for all countries to under8 take mitigation activities to rapidly meet the goal of 

9 limiting global warming to not more than 1.5 de10 grees Celsius; 

11 (11) developed countries have the greatest ca12 pacity to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions, 

13 while— 

14 (A) developing countries have the least ca15 pacity to engage in mitigation activities; and 

16 (B) the capacity of developing countries to 

17 engage in mitigation activities is less than the 

18 national mitigation potential of those developing 

19 countries; 

20 (12) the determination for the fair share of 

21 mitigation and adaptation activities for each country 

22 must take into account— 

23 (A) the historic greenhouse gas emissions 

24 of each country; and 


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1 (B) the current capacity of each country to 

2 both mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and 

3 adapt to climate impacts; 

4 (13) developed countries that have historically 

5 emitted a disproportionately high share of green6 house gas emissions, and reaped the economic bene7 fits of those polluting activities, have a cor8 responding disproportionately greater responsibility 

9 to engage in global mitigation and adaptation activi10 ties, as compared to less industrialized countries 

11 that have historically polluted far less; 

12 (14) the only realistic way for less industri13 alized countries to meet their full mitigation poten14 tial is through international climate financing by 

15 more developed countries; 

16 (15) in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, developed 

17 countries committed to jointly mobilize, starting in 

18 2020, $100,000,000,000 per year in public climate 

19 financing (as well as private investment and other 

20 alternative forms of finance), for developing coun21 tries, a commitment reaffirmed in 2015 in Decision 

22 1/CP.21 of the United Nations Framework Conven23 tion on Climate Change, Adoption of the Paris 

24 Agreement; 


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1 (16) the $100,000,000,000 commitment de2 scribed in paragraph (15) was a political com3 promise that falls short of the actual financing needs 

4 for climate action in developing countries; 

5 (17) Bloomberg New Energy Finance has esti6 mated that the transition to renewable energy 

7 sources in developing countries will require hundreds 

8 of billions of dollars annually; 

9 (18) the United Nations Environment Pro10 gramme has estimated that adaptation needs relat11 ing to climate change in developing countries may be 

12 as much as $300,000,000,000 annually by 2030; 

13 (19) the Green Climate Fund was created in 

14 2010 by 194 countries to serve as a crucial financ15 ing mechanism to help developing countries limit or 

16 reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to cli17 mate change; 

18 (20) in 2015, the United Nations Framework 

19 Convention on Climate Change agreed that the 

20 Green Climate Fund should serve the goals of the 

21 Paris Agreement, which states that ‘‘developed coun22 try Parties shall provide financial resources to assist 

23 developing country Parties with respect to both miti24 gation and adaptation in continuation of their exist25 ing obligations under the Convention’’; 


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1 (21) the Green Climate Fund is an essential in2 stitution for climate financing, as the Green Climate 

3 Fund ensures— 

4 (A) balanced governance between developed 

5 and developing countries; 

6 (B) stakeholder engagement and discourse; 

7 (C) a balanced approach between mitiga8 tion and adaptation; 

9 (D) fair and equal labor and working con10 ditions; 

11 (E) conservation of biodiversity and critical 

12 habitats; and 

13 (F) strong environmental, social, and gen14 der protections; 

15 (22) the Green Climate Fund— 

16 (A) promotes and protects human rights 

17 and the rights of marginalized groups, including 

18 indigenous peoples, women, children, and people 

19 with disabilities; and 

20 (B) continues to take steps to strengthen 

21 protection for marginalized groups; 

22 (23) the United States committed 

23 $3,000,000,000 of the first $10,000,000,000 raised 

24 for the initial resource mobilization period of the 

Green Climate Fund, though only 1 25 ⁄3 of this pledge 


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1 was fulfilled, leaving the United States the only 

2 country to fall substantially short of a commitment 

3 of a country to the Green Climate Fund; and 

4 (24) the Green Climate Fund is a fully oper5 ational and proven institution supporting well over 

6 100 projects and programs in developing countries 

7 around the world. 

8 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

9 It is the policy of the United States to provide climate 

10 financing— 

11 (1) as an essential part of the global effort to 

12 combat climate change; and 

13 (2) that— 

14 (A) upholds the principles of environmental 

15 justice and climate justice; 

16 (B) supports programs and projects devel17 oped by recipient countries and communities; 

18 (C) is designed and implemented with the 

19 free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous 

20 peoples and other impacted communities; 

21 (D) promotes gender equality as essential 

22 in all of the projects and programs supported 

23 by climate financing; 

24 (E) includes best practices for environ25 mental and social safeguards to ensure that 


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1 projects and programs supported by climate fi2 nancing respect fundamental human rights; and 

3 (F) addresses both mitigation and adapta4 tion as essential aspects of responding to cli5 mate change. 

6 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro8 priated for fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year thereafter 

9 such sums as may be necessary for contributions to the 

10 Green Climate Fund— 

11 (1) to achieve the greenhouse gas emissions re12 ductions required to keep the planet at or below 1.5 

13 degrees Celsius of global warming, consistent with 

14 the goals of the Paris Agreement; and 

15 (2) to exceed the commitment by developed 

16 countries to jointly mobilize, starting in 2020, 

17 $100,000,000,000 for climate financing each year, 

18 as committed to in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord 

19 and reaffirmed in 2015 in Decision 1/CP.21 of the 

20 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 

21 Change, Adoption of the Paris Agreement. 

22 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con23 gress that climate financing needs are significantly greater 

24 than those described in subsection (a)(2). 


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1 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) CLIMATE FINANCING.—The term ‘‘climate 

4 financing’’ means the transfer of new and additional 

5 public funds from developed countries to developing 

6 countries for projects and programs that— 

7 (A) reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas 

8 emissions; 

9 (B) enhance and restore natural carbon se10 questration; and 

11 (C) promote adaptation to climate change. 

12 (2) GREEN CLIMATE FUND.—The term ‘‘Green 

13 Climate Fund’’ means the independent, multilateral 

14 fund— 

15 (A) established by parties to the United 

16 Nations Framework Convention on Climate 

17 Change; and 

18 (B) adopted by decision as part of the fi19 nancial mechanism of the United Nations 

20 Framework Convention on Climate Change. 

21 (3) PARIS AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘Paris 

22 Agreement’’ means the annex to Decision 1/CP.21 

23 adopted by the 21st Conference of Parties of the 

24 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 

25 Change in Paris, France, on December 12, 2015. 

Æ 


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