II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4185 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 18, 2024 

Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Mr. MARKEY, and Mr. SANDERS) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Relations 

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 2024’’. 

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 2023 report of the Intergovernmental 

5 Panel on Climate Change, entitled ‘‘AR6 Synthesis 

6 Report: Climate Change 2023’’, found that current 

7 global financial flows for climate adaptation are in8 sufficient for, and constrain implementation of, cli9 mate adaptation options, especially in developing 

10 countries; 

11 (4) the report of the United Nations Environ12 ment Programme entitled ‘‘Climate Change and the 

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

14 2018, found that, in the 10 years prior to the publi15 cation of the report, climate vulnerability had cost 

16 the 20 nations most affected by catastrophes rooted 

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

18 interest payments alone; 

19 (5) individuals and families, particularly com20 munities of color, indigenous communities, and low21 income communities, that are on the frontlines of 

22 climate change across the globe are often in close 

23 proximity to environmental stressors or sources of 

24 pollution; 


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1 (6) the communities described in paragraph 

2 (5)— 

3 (A) are often the first exposed to the 

4 causes and impacts of climate change; and 

5 (B) have the fewest resources with which 

6 to mitigate those impacts or to relocate; 

7 (7) all efforts to adapt to and mitigate climate 

8 change must include specific protections for and ac9 knowledgment of the harm of climate change to 

10 communities of color, indigenous peoples, women, 

11 and other frontline communities and marginalized 

12 peoples around the world; 

13 (8) in Paris, on December 12, 2015, the parties 

14 to the United Nations Framework Convention on 

15 Climate Change adopted the Paris Agreement, a 

16 benchmark agreement— 

17 (A) to combat climate change; and 

18 (B) to accelerate and intensify the actions 

19 and investments needed for a sustainable low 

20 carbon future; 

21 (9) the Paris Agreement, to which the United 

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

23 when taking action to address climate change, re24 spect, promote and consider their respective obliga25 tions on human rights, the right to health, the rights 


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1 of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants, 

2 children, persons with disabilities and people in vul3 nerable situations and the right to development, as 

4 well as gender equality, empowerment of women and 

5 intergenerational equity.’’; 

6 (10) the Paris Agreement— 

7 (A) notes the importance of ‘‘climate jus8 tice’’ when mitigating and adapting to climate 

9 change; and 

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

11 and progressive response to the urgent threat of 

12 climate change’’; 

13 (11) it is imperative for all countries to under14 take mitigation activities to rapidly meet the goal of 

15 limiting global warming to not more than 1.5 de16 grees Celsius; 

17 (12) developed countries have the greatest ca18 pacity to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions, 

19 while— 

20 (A) developing countries have the least ca21 pacity to engage in mitigation activities; and 

22 (B) the capacity of developing countries to 

23 engage in mitigation activities is less than the 

24 national mitigation potential of those developing 

25 countries; 


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1 (13) the determination for the fair share of 

2 mitigation and adaptation activities for each country 

3 must take into account— 

4 (A) the historic greenhouse gas emissions 

5 of each country; and 

6 (B) the current capacity of each country to 

7 both mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and 

8 adapt to climate impacts; 

9 (14) developed countries that have historically 

10 emitted a disproportionately high share of green11 house gas emissions, and reaped the economic bene12 fits of those polluting activities, have a cor13 responding and disproportionately greater responsi14 bility to engage in global mitigation and adaptation 

15 activities than less industrialized countries that have 

16 historically polluted far less; 

17 (15) the only realistic way for less industri18 alized countries to meet their full mitigation poten19 tial is through international climate financing by 

20 more developed countries; 

21 (16) in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, developed 

22 countries committed to jointly mobilize, starting in 

23 2020, $100,000,000,000 per year in public climate 

24 financing (as well as private investments and other 

25 alternative forms of finance) for developing counVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:41 May 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4185.IS S4185

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1 tries, a commitment reaffirmed in 2015 in Decision 

2 1/CP.21 of the United Nations Framework Conven3 tion on Climate Change, Adoption of the Paris 

4 Agreement; 

5 (17) the $100,000,000,000 commitment de6 scribed in paragraph (16) was a political com7 promise that falls short of the actual financing needs 

8 for climate action in developing countries; 

9 (18) Bloomberg New Energy Finance has esti10 mated that the transition to renewable energy 

11 sources in developing countries will require hundreds 

12 of billions of dollars annually; 

13 (19) the United Nations Environment Pro14 gramme has estimated that adaptation needs relat15 ing to climate change in developing countries may be 

16 as much as $387,000,000,000 annually by 2030; 

17 (20) the Green Climate Fund was created in 

18 2010 by 194 countries to serve as a crucial financ19 ing mechanism to help developing countries limit or 

20 reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to cli21 mate change; 

22 (21) in 2015, the United Nations Framework 

23 Convention on Climate Change agreed that the 

24 Green Climate Fund should serve the goals of the 

25 Paris Agreement, which states that ‘‘developed counVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:41 May 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4185.IS S4185

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1 try Parties shall provide financial resources to assist 

2 developing country Parties with respect to both miti3 gation and adaptation in continuation of their exist4 ing obligations under the Convention’’; 

5 (22) the Green Climate Fund is an essential in6 stitution for climate financing, as the Green Climate 

7 Fund ensures— 

8 (A) balanced governance between developed 

9 and developing countries; 

10 (B) stakeholder engagement and discourse; 

11 (C) a balanced approach between mitiga12 tion and adaptation; 

13 (D) fair and equal labor and working con14 ditions; 

15 (E) conservation of biodiversity and critical 

16 habitats; and 

17 (F) strong environmental, social, and gen18 der protections; 

19 (23) the Green Climate Fund— 

20 (A) promotes and protects human rights 

21 and the rights of marginalized groups, including 

22 indigenous peoples, women, children, and people 

23 with disabilities; and 

24 (B) continues to take steps to strengthen 

25 protections for marginalized groups; 


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1 (24) in 2014, the United States announced its 

2 intention to contribute $3,000,000,000 of the first 

3 $10,000,000,000 raised for the initial resource mobi4 lization period of the Green Climate Fund, but ulti5 mately failed to fully honor this commitment; 

6 (25) pledges for the first replenishment period 

7 of the Green Climate Fund (‘‘GCF–1’’) totaled 

8 $9,870,000,000, without any participation from the 

9 United States; 

10 (26) almost all major contributors doubled the 

11 amount of their contribution from the initial re12 source mobilization phase for the GCF–1 replenish13 ment; 

14 (27) in December 2023, at the COP28 climate 

15 negotiations in the United Arab Emirates, the 

16 United States announced its intention to contribute 

17 an additional $3,000,000,000 for the Green Climate 

18 Fund’s second replenishment period (‘‘GCF–2’’); 

19 (28) as of February 2024, the United States 

20 has contributed only $2,000,000,000 in total fund21 ing to the Green Climate Fund; and 

22 (29) the Green Climate Fund is the world’s 

23 largest and most innovative multilateral climate 

24 fund, and is a fully operational and proven instituVerDate Sep 11 2014 17:41 May 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4185.IS S4185

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1 tion supporting nearly 250 projects in 129 devel2 oping countries. 

3 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

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

5 financing— 

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

7 combat climate change; and 

8 (2) that— 

9 (A) upholds the principles of environmental 

10 justice and climate justice; 

11 (B) supports programs and projects devel12 oped by recipient countries and communities; 

13 (C) is designed and implemented with the 

14 free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous 

15 peoples and other impacted communities; 

16 (D) promotes gender equality as essential 

17 in all of the projects and programs supported 

18 by climate financing; 

19 (E) includes best practices for environ20 mental and social safeguards to ensure that 

21 projects and programs supported by climate fi22 nancing respect fundamental human rights; and 

23 (F) addresses mitigation, adaptation, and 

24 the treatment of loss and damage as essential 

25 aspects of responding to climate change. 


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1 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be appro3 priated for contributions to the Green Climate Fund 

4 $4,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2025 and 2026. 

5 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con6 gress that the climate financing needed to achieve the 

7 greenhouse gas emissions reductions necessary to keep the 

8 planet at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming 

9 is significantly greater than the amount of funds author10 ized to be appropriated under subsection (a). 

11 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this Act: 

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

14 financing’’ means the transfer of new and additional 

15 public funds from developed countries to developing 

16 countries for projects and programs that— 

17 (A) reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas 

18 emissions; 

19 (B) enhance and restore natural carbon se20 questration; 

21 (C) promote adaptation to climate change; 

22 and 

23 (D) address climate change-induced losses 

24 and damages. 


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

2 Climate Fund’’ means the independent, multilateral 

3 fund— 

4 (A) established by parties to the United 

5 Nations Framework Convention on Climate 

6 Change; and 

7 (B) adopted by decision as part of the fi8 nancial mechanism of the United Nations 

9 Framework Convention on Climate Change. 

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

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

12 adopted by the 21st Conference of Parties of the 

13 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 

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

Æ 


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