I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2774 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 22, 2021 

Mr. ESPAILLAT (for himself, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. LOWENTHAL, 

Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. BUSH, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. CARTWRIGHT, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. 

CONNOLLY, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PHILLIPS, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mrs. HAYES, 

Mr. CASTEN, Ms. TITUS, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CASE, and Mr. JONES) 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 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) climate change most severely impacts vul2 nerable and disadvantaged communities in the 

3 United States and around the world; 

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

5 Government to work with its global partners to pro6 mote environmental justice and climate justice; 

7 (3) the report of the United Nations Environ8 ment Programme entitled ‘‘Climate Change and the 

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

10 2018, found that, in the 10 years prior to the publi11 cation of the report, climate vulnerability has cost 

12 the 20 nations most affected by catastrophes rooted 

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

14 interest payments alone; 

15 (4) individuals and families, particularly com16 munities of color, indigenous communities, and low17 income communities, that are on the frontlines of 

18 climate change across the globe are often in close 

19 proximity to environmental stressors or sources of 

20 pollution; 

21 (5) the communities described in paragraph 

22 (4)— 

23 (A) are often the first exposed to the 

24 causes and impacts of climate change; and 


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1 (B) have the fewest resources with which 

2 to mitigate those impacts or to relocate; 

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

4 change must include specific protections for and ac5 knowledgment of the harm of climate change to 

6 communities of color, indigenous peoples, women, 

7 and other frontline communities and marginalized 

8 peoples around the world; 

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

10 to the United Nations Framework Convention on 

11 Climate Change adopted the Paris Agreement, a 

12 benchmark agreement— 

13 (A) to combat climate change; and 

14 (B) to accelerate and intensify the actions 

15 and investments needed for a sustainable low 

16 carbon future; 

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

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

19 when taking action to address climate change, re20 spect, promote and consider their respective obliga21 tions on human rights, the right to health, the rights 

22 of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants, 

23 children, persons with disabilities and people in vul24 nerable situations and the right to development, as 


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1 well as gender equality, empowerment of women and 

2 intergenerational equity’’; 

3 (9) the Paris Agreement— 

4 (A) notes the importance of ‘‘climate jus5 tice’’ when mitigating and adapting to climate 

6 change; and 

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

8 and progressive response to the urgent threat of 

9 climate change’’; 

10 (10) it is imperative for all countries to under11 take mitigation activities to rapidly meet the goal of 

12 limiting global warming to not more than 1.5 de13 grees Celsius; 

14 (11) developed countries have the greatest ca15 pacity to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions, 

16 while— 

17 (A) developing countries have the least ca18 pacity to engage in mitigation activities; and 

19 (B) the capacity of developing countries to 

20 engage in mitigation activities is less than the 

21 national mitigation potential of those developing 

22 countries; 

23 (12) the determination for the fair share of 

24 mitigation and adaptation activities for each country 

25 must take into account— 


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1 (A) the historic greenhouse gas emissions 

2 of each country; and 

3 (B) the current capacity of each country to 

4 both mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and 

5 adapt to climate impacts; 

6 (13) developed countries that have historically 

7 emitted a disproportionately high share of green8 house gas emissions, and reaped the economic bene9 fits of those polluting activities, have a cor10 responding disproportionately greater responsibility 

11 to engage in global mitigation and adaptation activi12 ties, as compared to less industrialized countries 

13 that have historically polluted far less; 

14 (14) the only realistic way for less industri15 alized countries to meet their full mitigation poten16 tial is through international climate financing by 

17 more developed countries; 

18 (15) in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, developed 

19 countries committed to jointly mobilize, starting in 

20 2020, $100,000,000,000 per year in public climate 

21 financing (as well as private investment and other 

22 alternative forms of finance), for developing coun23 tries, a commitment reaffirmed in 2015 in Decision 

24 1/CP.21 of the United Nations Framework ConvenVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774

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1 tion on Climate Change, Adoption of the Paris 

2 Agreement; 

3 (16) the $100,000,000,000 commitment de4 scribed in paragraph (15) was a political com5 promise that falls short of the actual financing needs 

6 for climate action in developing countries; 

7 (17) Bloomberg New Energy Finance has esti8 mated that the transition to renewable energy 

9 sources in developing countries will require hundreds 

10 of billions of dollars annually; 

11 (18) the United Nations Environment Pro12 gramme has estimated that adaptation needs relat13 ing to climate change in developing countries may be 

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

15 (19) the Green Climate Fund was created in 

16 2010 by 194 countries to serve as a crucial financ17 ing mechanism to help developing countries limit or 

18 reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to cli19 mate change; 

20 (20) in 2015, the United Nations Framework 

21 Convention on Climate Change agreed that the 

22 Green Climate Fund should serve the goals of the 

23 Paris Agreement, which states that ‘‘developed coun24 try Parties shall provide financial resources to assist 

25 developing country Parties with respect to both mitiVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774

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1 gation and adaptation in continuation of their exist2 ing obligations under the Convention’’; 

3 (21) the Green Climate Fund is an essential in4 stitution for climate financing, as the Green Climate 

5 Fund ensures— 

6 (A) balanced governance between developed 

7 and developing countries; 

8 (B) stakeholder engagement and discourse; 

9 (C) a balanced approach between mitiga10 tion and adaptation; 

11 (D) fair and equal labor and working con12 ditions; 

13 (E) conservation of biodiversity and critical 

14 habitats; and 

15 (F) strong environmental, social, and gen16 der protections; 

17 (22) the Green Climate Fund— 

18 (A) promotes and protects human rights 

19 and the rights of marginalized groups, including 

20 indigenous peoples, women, children, and people 

21 with disabilities; and 

22 (B) continues to take steps to strengthen 

23 protection for marginalized groups; 

24 (23) the United States committed 

25 $3,000,000,000 of the first $10,000,000,000 raised 


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1 for the initial resource mobilization period of the 

Green Climate Fund, though only 1 2 ⁄3 of this pledge 

3 was fulfilled, leaving the United States the only 

4 country to fall substantially short of a commitment 

5 of a country to the Green Climate Fund; 

6 (24) pledges for the first replenishment period 

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

8 years 2020–2023, totaled $9.9 billion, without any 

9 participation from the United States; 

10 (25) almost all major contributors doubled the 

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

14 (26) the Green Climate Fund is a fully oper15 ational and proven institution supporting nearly 200 

16 projects and programs in developing countries 

17 around the world with a total value of $30.2 billion 

18 including co-financing. 

19 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

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

21 financing— 

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

23 combat climate change; and 

24 (2) that— 


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1 (A) upholds the principles of environmental 

2 justice and climate justice; 

3 (B) supports programs and projects devel4 oped by recipient countries and communities; 

5 (C) is designed and implemented with the 

6 free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous 

7 peoples and other impacted communities; 

8 (D) promotes gender equality as essential 

9 in all of the projects and programs supported 

10 by climate financing; 

11 (E) includes best practices for environ12 mental and social safeguards to ensure that 

13 projects and programs supported by climate fi14 nancing respect fundamental human rights; and 

15 (F) addresses both mitigation and adapta16 tion as essential aspects of responding to cli17 mate change. 

18 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro20 priated for contributions to the Green Climate Fund 

21 $4,000,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2022 and 

22 2023. 

23 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con24 gress that the climate financing needs to achieve the 

25 greenhouse gas emissions reductions required to keep the 


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1 planet at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming 

2 are significantly greater than the amount of funds author3 ized to be appropriated under subsection (a). 

4 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 

5 In this Act: 

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

7 financing’’ means the transfer of new and additional 

8 public funds from developed countries to developing 

9 countries for projects and programs that— 

10 (A) reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas 

11 emissions; 

12 (B) enhance and restore natural carbon se13 questration; and 

14 (C) promote adaptation to climate change. 

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

16 Climate Fund’’ means the independent, multilateral 

17 fund— 

18 (A) established by parties to the United 

19 Nations Framework Convention on Climate 

20 Change; and 

21 (B) adopted by decision as part of the fi22 nancial mechanism of the United Nations 

23 Framework Convention on Climate Change. 

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

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


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1 adopted by the 21st Conference of Parties of the 

2 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 

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

Æ 


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