IV 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 540 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the policies of 

the United States should support a transition to near zero greenhouse 

gas emissions, 100 percent clean renewable energy, infrastructure modernization, green jobs, full employment, a sustainable economy, fair 

wages, affordable energy, expanding the middle class, and ending poverty 

to promote national economic competitiveness and national security and 

for the purpose of avoiding adverse impacts of a changing climate. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 30, 2015 

Mr. GRIJALVA (for himself, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Ms. CLARKE of New 

York, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DEUTCH, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. HONDA, Mr. 

JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. LEE, Mr. LEWIS, Mr. TED LIEU of California, 

Ms. NORTON, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. VAN

HOLLEN, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. FARR, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. GABBARD, Mr. HUFFMAN, and Mr. COHEN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 

Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on 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 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the policies of the United States should support a transition to near zero greenhouse gas emissions, 100 percent 

clean renewable energy, infrastructure modernization, 

green jobs, full employment, a sustainable economy, fair 

wages, affordable energy, expanding the middle class, 

and ending poverty to promote national economic comVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Dec 01, 2015 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\HR540.IH HR540

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petitiveness and national security and for the purpose 

of avoiding adverse impacts of a changing climate. 

Whereas an immense number of scientific, economic, religious, academic, governmental, business, and civil society 

leaders believe steps must be taken to limit warming by 

the end of the century to 2 degrees Celsius to avoid catastrophic effects of climate change; 

Whereas leading economists, policy experts, and business 

leaders conclude that transitioning to a clean energy 

economy available for all would create millions of green 

jobs, improve our living standards, and boost economic 

growth in coming years; 

Whereas many religious leaders and organizations in the 

United States and worldwide have stated that we all have 

a moral obligation to be good stewards of the Earth and 

that there is a moral imperative for bold action on climate change; 

Whereas the Department of Defense and the National Intelligence Council warn that climate destabilization threatens United States national and global security by contributing to increased violent conflict and failed nation states 

suffering from water shortages, food scarcity, and poverty; 

Whereas global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide 

exceeded 400 parts per million in 2015, a level not 

reached in at least 800,000 years; 

Whereas atmospheric temperature measurements show an average warming of 0.85 degrees Celsius (1.53 degrees 

Fahrenheit) from 1880 to 2012 according to the United 

Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 

(IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5); 


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Whereas 13 of the 14 warmest years on record have all happened in the 21st century, each of the last three decades 

has been hotter than the prior one, and 2001 to 2010 

was the warmest decade on record, according to the 

World Meteorological Organization; 

Whereas, since 1990, when the IPCC issued its First Assessment Report (AR1), global carbon dioxide emissions have 

increased by nearly 60 percent; 

Whereas an overwhelming scientific consensus of credentialed 

climate scientists and scientists in related fields and numerous scientific and governmental organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences, the World Meteorological Organization, the Department of Defense, the 

National Intelligence Council, the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the United Nations Intergovernmental 

Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), support the findings 

that climate change is happening and that human activities are a key contributor to it; 

Whereas the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report concludes that 

human emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon 

dioxide, are chiefly responsible for the increases in the 

global average temperature; 

Whereas an increase in the global average temperature, if not 

stopped, will have major adverse impacts on both the natural and human-made environments due to longer, more 

intense heat waves, prolonged droughts, rising sea levels, 

ocean acidification, and more intense and frequent extreme weather events; 


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Whereas these physical effects are expected to lead to water 

scarcity, food insecurity, increasing numbers of refugees, 

increased poverty, and mass extinctions of species; 

Whereas United States Federal public lands and waters presently hold up to 490,000,000,000 metric tons of potential 

carbon pollution that would greatly contribute to global 

warming if extracted and burned, and interdisciplinary 

studies estimate that humanity must find a way to keep 

at least 80 percent of the world’s proven fossil fuel reserves in the ground; 

Whereas public health experts have documented the health 

impacts of climate change, including the spread of infectious diseases, risks to worldwide food and water supplies, an increase in rates of asthma and other respiratory conditions, and increased human suffering and 

loss of life due to more frequent and more intense heat 

waves and severe weather events; 

Whereas a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study 

found that air pollution from power plants causes more 

than 50,000 premature deaths each year in the United 

States; a Clean Air Taskforce study estimated that air 

pollution from coal-fired power plants accounts for 

20,000 heart attacks and 1,600,000 lost workdays in the 

United States annually; a Harvard Medical School report 

found that the public health impacts of coal costs the 

United States economy $140,000,000,000 to 

$242,000,000,000 annually; monitoring by the National 

Institute for Occupational Safety and Health found that 

the most debilitating and lethal form of black lung disease now affects a larger share of Appalachian coal miners than at any time since the early 1970s; according to 

the Department of Health and Human Services, black 


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lung disease has caused or contributed to more than 

75,000 coal miner deaths since 1968; and the Department of Labor has paid over $44,000,000,000 in benefits 

to miners totally disabled by respiratory diseases during 

this time; 

Whereas climate change, if unchecked, will exacerbate existing inequalities; 

Whereas climate change has a disproportionate adverse impact in the United States and throughout the world on 

minority communities and those with lower incomes, including those in developing nations; 

Whereas extreme weather events linked to climate change exacerbate our underlying economic inequities, and most of 

these events disproportionally harm middle- and low-income families that have fewer resources to prepare for 

and recover from these disasters; 

Whereas low-income communities and communities of color in 

the United States are inordinately exposed to pollution 

from fossil fuels, and the dirtiest coal-fired power plants 

are disproportionately located in communities of color; 

Whereas African-Americans are three times more likely to die 

from asthma-related causes than the White population; 

Latino children in the United States are 40 percent more 

likely to die from asthma than non-Latino Whites; and 

American Indian/Alaska Native children are 80 percent 

more likely to have asthma as non-Hispanic White children; 

Whereas many Native American communities have taken the 

lead in warning of the dangers of climate change, possessing unique knowledge and native wisdom drawn from 

a long history of living in sacred relationship with the 


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earth, which includes the need to live sustainably to ensure a healthy planet for the next seven generations to 

come; 

Whereas indigenous people and communities, who make up 5 

percent of the world’s population and live sustainably off 

the earth, often in poverty and in under-resourced areas, 

are especially vulnerable to a changing climate that 

threatens their traditions and way of life, including the 

destruction of small island communities from rising sea 

levels; 

Whereas studies completed by the International Monetary 

Fund (IMF), the Risky Business Project, Duke University, and others point to the severe economic costs of climate change and continuing use of fossil fuel, estimating 

billions of dollars a year in costs nationally and trillions 

globally; 

Whereas World Bank Chief Jim Yong Kim has called for an 

end to fossil fuel subsidies and the IMF estimates the 

world will pay $5.3 trillion in hidden costs associated 

with burning fossil fuels in 2015 alone; they also find 

that the majority of fossil fuel subsidies serve those in 

the top two wealthiest quintiles; 

Whereas climate change will likely cause a major increase in 

unemployment in our Nation’s agricultural sectors, 

threaten our food supply, and increase the cost of fruits, 

vegetables, and grains for consumers due to droughts and 

dwindling water supplies for irrigation; 

Whereas likely climate-linked events in recent years that 

harmed American agriculture and communities include a 

historic drought in California and the Southeast, record 

heat waves and flooding in the Midwest, powerful storms 


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like hurricanes Katrina and Sandy in the South and 

Eastern United States, and the widest F5 tornado ever 

recorded occurring in Oklahoma; 

Whereas millions of jobs will be created in the transition to 

renewable energy, the deployment of energy efficiency 

technology, and the development and installation of energy generation projects in a variety of industries, including business, manufacturing, engineering, and construction; 

Whereas, in striving toward near zero emissions, we must 

also strive toward zero waste goals that will reduce carbon emissions and create local jobs by reducing the 

amount of waste we generate and recycling or 

compositing the waste we can’t avoid; 

Whereas 42 percent of United States greenhouse gas emissions come from the energy used to produce, process, 

transport, and dispose of the food we eat and the goods 

we use and recycling or composting these products creates 10 times more jobs than landfilling while reducing 

greenhouse gas emissions; 

Whereas the deployment of renewable technologies is rising 

and the cost of renewable energy is falling and is quickly 

becoming cost-competitive with conventional forms of fossil fuel-based energy generation; 

Whereas fossil fuels are becoming increasingly more difficult 

to reach, may involve deepwater oil and gas drilling, 

mountaintop coal removal, hydraulic fracturing, and 

shale mining, and are resulting in increased casualties, 

environmental damage, and costs; 

Whereas a Stanford University study concludes that the 

United States energy supply could be based entirely on 


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renewable energy by the year 2050 using current technologies; 

Whereas nations, municipalities, organizations, businesses, 

and academic institutions throughout the world have set 

a goal to achieve carbon or climate neutrality, including 

over 680 college and university presidents who have 

signed the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment; and 

Whereas the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 

Fifth Assessment Report recommends a global goal of 

achieving near zero greenhouse gas emissions or below, 

which is necessary to stabilize the global average temperature to avoid climate catastrophe, and an unprecedented level of international cooperation is urgently required between now and 2030 to reduce the costs of cutting global greenhouse gas emissions: Now, therefore, be 

it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives shall— 

2 (1) support the achievement of near zero green3 house gas emissions nationally by January 1, 2050, 

4 through policies that— 

5 (A) shift the energy supply strategy of the 

6 United States from fossil fuels to 100-percent 

7 clean, renewable energy, including solar, wind, 

8 geothermal, and other clean, renewable re9 sources, increase energy efficiency, and imple10 ment zero waste practices to end dependence on 

11 fossil fuels and to promote climate security, 

12 jobs for all, universal access to clean energy, 


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1 national economic competitiveness, and national 

2 security; 

3 (2) establish a national goal of 50 percent of 

4 electricity to be derived from renewable sources by 

5 January 1, 2030; 

6 (3) establish policies and programs to mod7 ernize the national infrastructure for the 21st cen8 tury, transition toward full employment with millions 

9 of new green jobs, and build a sustainable economy, 

10 focusing on historically unemployed or under11 employed communities; 

12 (4) provide educational and job training pro13 grams, transitional financial assistance, and job op14 portunities for coal miners and other fossil fuel in15 dustry workers displaced due to the transition to a 

16 renewable energy-based economy; 

17 (5) provide retraining and re-employment op18 portunities in green jobs for military veterans, in19 cluding those returning from military service in Iraq 

20 and Afghanistan; 

21 (6) provide increased funding for educational, 

22 training, and job assistance programs for rural resi23 dents and for increased emergency preparation and 

24 assistance to damaged rural communities due to the 

25 adverse impacts of climate change; 


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1 (7) help the people of the United States to es2 tablish resiliency to withstand the significant im3 pacts of climate change that are already occurring 

4 and that are expected to accelerate in years ahead; 

5 (8) establish policies that capture and store car6 bon currently in the atmosphere by protecting for7 ests, improving land and agricultural practices, in8 cluding carbon farming, and planting and greening 

9 urban landscapes; 

10 (9) support trade policies that maintain Amer11 ican labor and environmental standards; 

12 (10) support tax incentives that promote the 

13 growth of green jobs in the United States, including 

14 manufacturing jobs, for the purpose of achieving full 

15 employment and protecting the environment; 

16 (11) ensure universal access to clean energy for 

17 moderate- and low-income families; 

18 (12) create policies or programs that result in 

19 net positive environmental and economic benefits in 

20 impacted communities, which shall receive at least 

21 25 percent of revenues committed to or generated by 

22 the implementation of carbon reducing programs; 

23 (13) phase out subsidies for fossil fuels; 


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1 (14) establish a national goal doubling effi2 ciency of existing buildings from 2015 levels by Jan3 uary 1, 2030; and 

4 (15) support a policy of the United States to 

5 work with the United Nations and other inter6 national organizations and nations to significantly 

7 reduce greenhouse gas emissions to avoid cata8 strophic impacts from global climate change, and to 

9 set a goal to achieve near zero greenhouse gas emis10 sions by January 1, 2050, by replacing fossil fuels 

11 with 100-percent renewable energy along with con12 servation and energy efficiency. 

Æ 


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