I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5625 

To authorize the imposition of sanctions with respect to significant actions 

that exacerbate climate change, to reinforce comprehensive efforts to 

limit global average temperature rise, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 16, 2020 

Ms. ESCOBAR (for herself and Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition 

to the Committees on the Judiciary, Financial Services, Oversight and 

Reform, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To authorize the imposition of sanctions with respect to 

significant actions that exacerbate climate change, to 

reinforce comprehensive efforts to limit global average 

temperature rise, 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 ‘‘Targeting Environ5 mental and Climate Recklessness Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) There is strong global support for actions 

4 that limit the severity of climate change. 

5 (2) On September 18, 2019, more than 200 

6 representatives of environmental groups, human 

7 rights groups, indigenous peoples, workers, and aca8 demia adopted a declaration calling on governments 

9 to urgently address environmental damage, including 

10 by increasing the pressure on those most responsible 

11 for climate change. 

12 (3) The United States Government has devel13 oped and implements targeted measures to restrict 

14 access to the United States financial system for spe15 cific individuals and entities involved in conduct in16 cluding malicious cyber-enabled activity, transnation17 al organized crime, narcotics trafficking, terrorism, 

18 proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, human 

19 rights abuse, and corruption. Those conduct-based 

20 measures apply globally and are not focused on any 

21 specific country. 

22 (4) As of the date of the enactment of this Act, 

23 the United States Government seeks to apply exist24 ing sanctions authorities against individuals and en25 tities engaged in wildlife trafficking. On January 30, 

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1 ignated an organization for engaging in illicit activi2 ties including the trafficking of endangered and vul3 nerable animals such as black bears, pangolins, ti4 gers, rhinoceroses, and elephants. 

5 (5) Climate change has disproportionate impact 

6 on poorer communities and individuals in less devel7 oped countries. Targeted measures against individ8 uals and entities most responsible for exacerbating 

9 climate change could help ensure that efforts to ad10 dress climate change do not worsen global inequal11 ity. 

12 (6) Development of carbon-intensive electrical 

13 power plants is continuing across the developing 

14 world through new foreign investments, despite 

15 broad awareness of the dangers. 

16 (7) The current investment plans of countries 

17 likely to receive significant foreign energy invest18 ments may lead to an excess build-out of fossil fuel 

19 assets and create carbon ‘‘lock-in’’ absent urgent ac20 tion. 

21 (8) Governments that are investing in or direct22 ing foreign investment toward legacy fossil fuel en23 ergy generation often lack the incentive to formulate 

24 more efficient or sustainable national energy policies. 


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1 Those governments are thus likely to default to es2 tablished but harmful forms of energy generation. 

3 (9) Alternatives to carbon-intensive electrical 

4 power generation are now available and technological 

5 advancements continue to strengthen the economic 

6 competitiveness of such alternatives. 

7 (10) Corruption is especially harmful when indi8 viduals who abuse positions of influence for personal 

9 gain can simultaneously cause great damage to the 

10 global commons by facilitating significant increases 

11 in the emission of, or decreases in the absorption of, 

12 greenhouse gases. 

13 (11) Deforestation is doubly damaging because 

14 it undercuts the absorption of carbon dioxide, while 

15 also raising greenhouse gas emissions. 

16 (12) According to the Intergovernmental Panel 

17 on Climate Change, most pathways to limit warming 

18 to well below 2 degrees Celsius require reduced de19 forestation in concert with reforestation, afforesta20 tion, and bioenergy efforts. 

21 (13) From 2013 to 2019, some of the largest 

22 financial institutions in the world provided tens of 

23 billions of dollars in financing to entities either di24 rectly or indirectly deforesting the largest rainforests 

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1 ternal policy covering dealings in key forest-risk 

2 commodities. 

3 (14) On September 22, 2019, 130 financial in4 stitutions worth $47,000,000,000,000 collectively, 

representing 1 5 ⁄3 of the global industry, signed on to 

6 the United Nations-backed Principles for Respon7 sible Banking, committing to strategically align their 

8 businesses with the goals of the agreement of the 

9 parties to the United Nations Framework Conven10 tion on Climate Change, done at Paris December 12, 

11 2015, and entered into force November 4, 2016 (in 

12 this Act referred to as the ‘‘Paris Climate Agree13 ment’’), and the Sustainable Development Goals 

14 adopted by all United Nations member countries in 

15 2015. 

16 (15) Illegal deforestation causes environmental 

17 harm while promoting criminal activity. In the Bra18 zilian Amazon, criminal networks with the capacity 

19 to coordinate large-scale extraction, processing, and 

20 sale of timber deploy armed personnel to protect 

21 their interests. They regularly kill and threaten peo22 ple who stand in the way of criminal activity, includ23 ing members of indigenous communities and envi24 ronmental enforcement officials. Perpetrators of vio25 lence are rarely brought to justice. 


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1 (16) Between 2002 and 2017, 1,558 people in 

2 50 countries were killed for defending their environ3 ments and lands. Environmental defenders currently 

4 face a wave of violence that includes threats of phys5 ical harm, intimidation, and criminalization. 

6 (17) Policies and measures to address climate 

7 change must also promote human rights, thereby ad8 vancing equality, justice, and dignity for all, in line 

9 with the Sustainable Development Goals of the 

10 United Nations. 

11 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON A COMPREHENSIVE AP12 PROACH TO ADDRESSING CLIMATE CHANGE. 

13 It is the sense of Congress that— 

14 (1) the restrictive measures described in this 

15 Act are only one component of the comprehensive 

16 approach needed to address climate change and miti17 gate its effects; 

18 (2) the United States Government must ensure 

19 through law and regulation that United States enti20 ties are not engaged in any of the egregious behav21 iors for which foreign persons may be targeted 

22 under this Act; 

23 (3) the United States Government must recom24 mit to the Paris Climate Agreement and commit to 

25 any successor agreement; 


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1 (4) the United States Government must fulfill 

2 its pledges to the Green Climate Fund and promote 

3 international efforts to support climate change adap4 tation and mitigation; 

5 (5) the United States Government must work 

6 proactively with foreign governments, including by 

7 offering positive incentives, to address climate 

8 change and to promote economic development in 

9 ways that do not needlessly increase carbon emis10 sions or increase the risk of corruption; 

11 (6) the restrictive measures described in this 

12 Act should be employed if engagement has failed to 

13 prevent significant actions that exacerbate climate 

14 change; and 

15 (7) given broad international support for coun16 tering climate change, the Secretary of State should 

17 encourage the governments of other countries to im18 plement restrictive measures that are similar to the 

19 provisions of this Act in order to increase the effec20 tiveness of actions taken by the United States to 

21 combat significant actions that exacerbate climate 

22 change, including related corruption and human 

23 rights violations. 


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1 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON ENGAGEMENT WITH THE 

2 PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA. 

3 It is the sense of Congress that— 

4 (1) the United States Government should en5 courage the People’s Republic of China to follow 

6 through on its stated intentions to reduce the nega7 tive environmental impacts of Chinese foreign invest8 ment, including investments provided through the 

9 Belt and Road Initiative; 

10 (2) the United States Government should nego11 tiate a binding agreement to end fossil fuel subsidies 

12 with major economies including the People’s Repub13 lic of China; 

14 (3) the United States Government should build 

15 on the successes of existing engagement with the 

16 People’s Republic of China through the United 

17 States-China Clean Energy Research Center and 

18 other initiatives to launch new cooperative efforts; 

19 (4) the United States Government should en20 gage in expanded dialogue with the People’s Repub21 lic of China to ensure that development finance in22 stitutions do not undermine global decarbonization 

23 efforts; and 

24 (5) the United States Government should work 

25 with the People’s Republic of China to develop and 

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1 silient investments over high-carbon, climate risk-in2 ducing investments, particularly in emerging and de3 veloping economies in the Indo-Pacific, Africa, and 

4 Latin America. 

5 SEC. 5. STATEMENT OF POLICY ON APPLICATION OF GLOB6 AL MAGNITSKY SANCTIONS TO CLIMATE7 LINKED CORRUPTION AND HUMAN RIGHTS 

8 ABUSES. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—It is the policy of the United 

10 States to consider— 

11 (1) any act of corruption related to a covered 

12 activity (as defined in section 6(h)) to be corruption, 

13 as that term is used in Executive Order 13818 (50 

14 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to blocking the property 

15 of persons involved in serious human rights abuse or 

16 corruption); and 

17 (2) any violation of internationally recognized 

18 human rights committed against an individual de19 scribed in subsection (b) to be a serious human 

20 rights abuse, as that term is used in that Executive 

21 Order 13818. 

22 (b) INDIVIDUALS DESCRIBED.—An individual de23 scribed in this subsection is an individual— 

24 (1) seeking to protect the environment, public 

25 health, or community land rights; 


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1 (2) seeking to expose, or raise awareness of, en2 vironmental damage; or 

3 (3) obliged to leave the individual’s habitual 

4 home due, in whole or in part, to sudden or progres5 sive change in the environment that adversely affects 

6 the individual’s life or living conditions. 

7 SEC. 6. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO SIG8 NIFICANT ACTIONS THAT EXACERBATE CLI9 MATE CHANGE. 

10 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con11 gress that the President should employ the authorities 

12 provided by this section to prioritize action against, and 

13 deterrence of, egregious behaviors that undermine efforts 

14 to limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5 

15 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. 

16 (b) IN GENERAL.—The President may impose one or 

17 more of the sanctions described in subsection (c) with re18 spect to any foreign person the President determines, 

19 based on credible information— 

20 (1) to be responsible for or complicit in, or to 

21 have directly or indirectly engaged in, a covered ac22 tivity, including a government official who approves 

23 or implements policies or acts that serve to promote 

24 a covered activity; 


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1 (2) to have acted or purported to act for or on 

2 behalf of, directly or indirectly, any foreign person in 

3 a matter relating to a covered activity, including for 

4 or on behalf of a government official described in 

5 paragraph (1); 

6 (3) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or 

7 provided financial, material, or technological support 

8 for, or goods or services to or in support of, a cov9 ered activity; or 

10 (4) to be owned or controlled by a foreign per11 son described in paragraph (1). 

12 (c) SANCTIONS DESCRIBED.—The sanctions that 

13 may be imposed with respect to a foreign person under 

14 subsection (b) are the following: 

15 (1) INADMISSIBILITY TO UNITED STATES.—In 

16 the case of a foreign person who is an individual— 

17 (A) ineligibility to receive a visa to enter 

18 the United States or to be admitted to the 

19 United States; or 

20 (B) if the individual has been issued a visa 

21 or other documentation, revocation, in accord22 ance with section 221(i) of the Immigration and 

23 Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1201(i)), of the visa 

24 or other documentation. 

25 (2) BLOCKING OF PROPERTY.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The blocking, in ac2 cordance with the International Emergency 

3 Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), 

4 of all transactions in all property and interests 

5 in property of the foreign person if such prop6 erty and interests in property are in the United 

7 States, come within the United States, or are or 

8 come within the possession or control of a 

9 United States person. 

10 (B) INAPPLICABILITY OF NATIONAL EMER11 GENCY REQUIREMENT.—The requirements of 

12 section 202 of the International Emergency 

13 Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) shall 

14 not apply for purposes of this paragraph. 

15 (3) OTHER SANCTIONS OPTIONS.—Any of the 

16 sanctions described in section 235 of the Countering 

17 America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (22 

18 U.S.C. 9529). 

19 (d) CONSIDERATION OF CERTAIN INFORMATION IN

20 IMPOSING SANCTIONS.—In determining whether to im21 pose sanctions under subsection (b), the President shall 

22 consider— 

23 (1) information provided jointly by the chair24 person and ranking member of each of the appro25 priate congressional committees; and 


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1 (2) credible information obtained by other coun2 tries and nongovernmental organizations that mon3 itor environmental harm or violations of human 

4 rights. 

5 (e) REQUESTS BY APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL

6 COMMITTEES.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 days 

8 after receiving a request that meets the require9 ments of paragraph (2) with respect to whether a 

10 foreign person has engaged in an action described in 

11 subsection (a), the President shall— 

12 (A) determine if that person has engaged 

13 in such an action; and 

14 (B) submit a classified or unclassified re15 port to the chairperson and ranking member of 

16 the committee or committees that submitted the 

17 request with respect to that determination that 

18 includes— 

19 (i) a statement of whether or not the 

20 President imposed or intends to impose 

21 sanctions with respect to the person; and 

22 (ii) if the President imposed or in23 tends to impose sanctions, a description of 

24 those sanctions. 


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1 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—A request under para2 graph (1) with respect to whether a foreign person 

3 has engaged in an action described in subsection (b) 

4 shall be submitted to the President in writing jointly 

5 by the chairperson and ranking member of one of 

6 the appropriate congressional committees. 

7 (f) EXCEPTIONS.— 

8 (1) INTELLIGENCE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT

9 ACTIVITIES.—Sanctions under this section shall not 

10 apply with respect to— 

11 (A) any activity subject to the reporting 

12 requirements under title V of the National Se13 curity Act of 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3091 et seq.); or 

14 (B) any authorized intelligence or law en15 forcement activities of the United States. 

16 (2) COMPLIANCE WITH UNITED NATIONS HEAD17 QUARTERS AGREEMENT.—This section shall not 

18 apply with respect to the admission of an individual 

19 to the United States if the admission of the indi20 vidual is necessary to comply with United States ob21 ligations under the Agreement between the United 

22 Nations and the United States of America regarding 

23 the Headquarters of the United Nations, signed at 

24 Lake Success June 26, 1947, and entered into force 

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1 sular Relations, done at Vienna April 24, 1963, and 

2 entered into force March 19, 1967, or under other 

3 international obligations of the United States. 

4 (3) EXCEPTION RELATING TO IMPORTATION OF

5 GOODS.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The authority to block 

7 and prohibit all transactions in all property and 

8 interests in property under this section shall not 

9 include the authority to impose sanctions on the 

10 importation of goods. 

11 (B) GOOD DEFINED.—In this paragraph, 

12 the term ‘‘good’’ means any article, natural or 

13 man-made substance, material, supply or manu14 factured product, including inspection and test 

15 equipment, and excluding technical data. 

16 (g) IMPLEMENTATION; PENALTIES.— 

17 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The President may ex18 ercise all authorities provided under sections 203 

19 and 205 of the International Emergency Economic 

20 Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1702 and 1704) to carry out 

21 this section. 

22 (2) PENALTIES.—A person that violates, at23 tempts to violate, conspires to violate, or causes a 

24 violation of this section or any regulation, license, or 

25 order issued to carry out this section shall be subject 


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1 to the penalties set forth in subsections (b) and (c) 

2 of section 206 of the International Emergency Eco3 nomic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1705) to the same ex4 tent as a person that commits an unlawful act de5 scribed in subsection (a) of that section. 

6 (h) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than one year 

7 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually 

8 thereafter, the Secretary of Energy, in consultation with 

9 the Secretary of State and the Administrator of the Envi10 ronmental Protection Agency, shall submit to the appro11 priate congressional committees a report that includes a 

12 list of each activity in a foreign country that— 

13 (1) is initiated or negotiated in the year pre14 ceding submission of the report; and 

15 (2) the Secretary determines is a covered activ16 ity, regardless of whether sanctions have been im17 posed with respect to the activity. 

18 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

19 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT20 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com21 mittees’’ means— 

22 (A) the Committee on Environment and 

23 Public Works and the Committee on Foreign 

24 Relations of the Senate; and 


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1 (B) the Committee on Energy and Com2 merce and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

3 the House of Representatives. 

4 (2) CARBON SINK.—The term ‘‘carbon sink’’ 

5 means a feature or process that absorbs more car6 bon from the atmosphere than it releases. 

7 (3) COVERED ACTIVITY.—The term ‘‘covered 

8 activity’’ means any activity in a foreign country 

9 that, on or after the date of the enactment of this 

10 Act— 

11 (A) causes, or is likely to cause, significant 

12 excess greenhouse gas emissions associated with 

13 electrical power generation, including— 

14 (i) construction, importation, or ex15 portation of subcritical coal-fired power 

16 plants; or 

17 (ii) any action that significantly un18 dermines, as a result of timing or mag19 nitude, adoption in the country of high-ef20 ficiency, low-carbon, or renewable energy 

21 technology or infrastructure; 

22 (B) causes, or is likely to cause, significant 

23 or illegal deforestation or loss of natural carbon 

24 sinks, including— 


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1 (i) establishment of incentives for, or 

2 promotion of, systematic deforestation; 

3 (ii) engagement in, or failure to com4 bat, illegal logging, mining, or ranching; or 

5 (iii) unjust actions that limit or cir6 cumvent opposition to deforestation by in7 dividuals seeking to protect the environ8 ment, public health, or community land 

9 rights; or 

10 (C) knowingly misrepresents the environ11 mental impact of a project, investment, or prod12 uct, including misrepresenting the amount of 

13 greenhouse gas emissions associated with the 

14 project, investment, or product, in the context 

15 of— 

16 (i) assessments conducted by multilat17 eral organizations, national governments, 

18 or investors; or 

19 (ii) public efforts to gain market ad20 vantage based on purported environmental 

21 advantages of a product. 

22 (4) KNOWINGLY.—The term ‘‘knowingly’’, with 

23 respect to conduct, a circumstance, or a result, 

24 means that a person has actual knowledge, or should 


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1 have known, of the conduct, the circumstance, or the 

2 result. 

3 (5) FOREIGN PERSON.—The term ‘‘foreign per4 son’’ means a person that is not a United States 

5 person. 

6 (6) SUBCRITICAL COAL-FIRED POWER PLANT.— 

7 The term ‘‘subcritical coal-fired power plant’’ means 

8 a coal-fired power plant with carbon intensity equal 

9 to or greater than 880 kilograms of carbon dioxide 

10 per megawatt-hour. 

11 (7) UNITED STATES PERSON.—The term 

12 ‘‘United States person’’ means— 

13 (A) a United States citizen or an alien law14 fully admitted for permanent residence to the 

15 United States; or 

16 (B) an entity organized under the laws of 

17 the United States or of any jurisdiction within 

18 the United States, including a foreign branch of 

19 such an entity. 

20 SEC. 7. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR THE OFFICE OF FOR21 EIGN ASSETS CONTROL. 

22 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec23 retary of the Treasury such sums as may be necessary 

24 to support the targeting by the Office of Foreign Assets 

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1 ity of that Office to target persons for the imposition of 

2 sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Ac3 countability Act (subtitle F of title XII of Public Law 

4 114–328; 22 U.S.C. 2656 note). 

Æ 


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