IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 37 
Expressing the sense of Congress that there is a climate emergency which 
demands a massive-scale mobilization to halt, reverse, and address its 
consequences and causes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 2, 2023 
Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. LEE of California, 
Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BOWMAN, 
Mr. CASAR, Ms. CHU, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. 
COHEN, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. EVANS, Mr. GOMEZ, Ms. 
NORTON, Ms. HOYLE of Oregon, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. 
KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mr. LIEU, Ms. MENG, Mrs. 
NAPOLITANO, Ms. OMAR, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. POCAN, Ms. PORTER, Mr. 
QUIGLEY, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. SALINAS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SCHIFF, 
Ms. STANSBURY, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. TONKO, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, 
Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. FROST, Ms. BUSH, Mr. 
GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. 
TAKANO, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. 
JOHNSON of Georgia, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. BEYER, Ms. BALINT, Ms. LOF-
GREN, Mr. PANETTA, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. 
RYAN, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, and Mr. LYNCH) submitted the fol-
lowing concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that there is a climate 
emergency which demands a massive-scale mobilization 
to halt, reverse, and address its consequences and causes. 
Whereas the 8 warmest years on record have now occurred 
since 2014, with 2016 as the hottest year recorded, and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:28 May 02, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HC37.IH
HC37
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HCON 37 IH 
each of the past 4 decades have been warmer than the 
preceding decade; 
Whereas global atmospheric concentrations of the primary 
global warming pollutant, carbon dioxide— 
(1) have increased, primarily due to human activi-
ties, including the burning of fossil fuels and deforest-
ation, by 40 percent since preindustrial times, from 280 
parts per million to 415 parts per million; 
(2) are rising at a rate of 2 to 3 parts per million 
annually; and 
(3) must be reduced to not more than 350 parts per 
million, and likely lower, ‘‘if humanity wishes to preserve 
a planet similar to that on which civilization developed 
and to which life on Earth is adapted,’’ according to 
former National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
climatologist Dr. James Hansen; 
Whereas global atmospheric concentrations of other global 
warming pollutants, including methane, nitrous oxide, 
and hydrofluorocarbons, have also increased substantially 
since preindustrial times, primarily due to human activi-
ties, including the burning of fossil fuels; 
Whereas climate science and observations of climate change 
impacts, including ocean warming, ocean acidification, 
floods, droughts, wildfires, and extreme weather, dem-
onstrate that a global rise in concentrations of global 
warming pollutants is already having dangerous impacts 
on human populations and the environment; 
Whereas with the current 1.1 degrees Celsius of warming 
above preindustrial levels, the National Oceanic and At-
mospheric Administration finds that climate change is al-
ready increasing the frequency of extreme weather and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:28 May 02, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HC37.IH
HC37
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HCON 37 IH 
other climate-related disasters, including drought, wild-
fire, and storms that include precipitation; 
Whereas the overall costs for such disasters for the United 
States in 2022 was roughly $165 billion, the third high-
est recorded total costs, including 18 separate weather 
and climate disasters costing at least 1 billion dollars 
each and caused at least 474 direct or indirect known fa-
talities; 
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
finds there are wide-ranging, acute, and fatal public 
health consequences from climate change that impact 
communities across the United States; 
Whereas, according to the National Climate and Health As-
sessment of the United States Global Change Research 
Program, climate change is a significant threat to the 
health of the people of the United States, leading to in-
creased— 
(1) temperature-related deaths and illnesses; 
(2) air quality impacts; 
(3) extreme weather events; 
(4) numbers of vector-borne diseases; 
(5) waterborne illnesses; 
(6) food safety, nutrition, and distribution complica-
tions; and 
(7) mental health and well-being concerns; 
Whereas environmental and public health threats from cli-
mate change and climate disasters are not randomly dis-
tributed and disproportionately affect low-income commu-
nities and communities of color; 
Whereas the consequences of climate change are felt most se-
verely by frontline communities and endanger populations 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:28 May 02, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HC37.IH
HC37
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HCON 37 IH 
made especially vulnerable by existing exposure to ex-
treme weather events, such as children, the elderly, and 
individuals with preexisting disabilities and health condi-
tions; 
Whereas individuals and families on the frontlines of climate 
change across the United States, including territories, liv-
ing with income inequality and poverty, institutional rac-
ism, inequity on the basis of gender and sexual orienta-
tion, poor infrastructure, and lack of access to health 
care, housing, clean water, and food security are often in 
close proximity to environmental stressors or sources of 
pollution, particularly communities of color, indigenous 
communities, and low-income communities, which— 
(1) are often the first exposed to the impacts of cli-
mate change; 
(2) experience outsized risk because of the close 
proximity of the community to environmental hazards 
and stressors, in addition to collocation with waste and 
other sources of pollution; and 
(3) have the fewest resources to mitigate those im-
pacts or to relocate, which will exacerbate preexisting 
challenges; 
Whereas climate change holds grave and immediate con-
sequences not just for the population of the United 
States, including territories, but for communities across 
the world, particularly those communities in the Global 
South on the front lines of the climate crisis that are at 
risk of forced displacement; 
Whereas the Department of State, the Department of De-
fense, and the intelligence community have identified cli-
mate change as a threat to national security, and the De-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:28 May 02, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HC37.IH
HC37
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HCON 37 IH 
partment of Homeland Security views climate change as 
a top national security risk; 
Whereas the climatic changes resulting from global warming 
above 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, in-
cluding changes resulting from global warming of more 
than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, are pro-
jected to result in irreversible, catastrophic changes to 
public health, livelihoods, quality of life, food security, 
water supplies, human security, and economic growth; 
Whereas even with global warming up to 1.5 degrees Celsius 
above preindustrial levels, the planet is projected to expe-
rience— 
(1) a significant rise in sea levels; 
(2) extraordinary loss of biodiversity; and 
(3) intensifying droughts, floods, wildfires, and other 
extreme weather events; 
Whereas, according to climate scientists, addressing the cli-
mate emergency will require a just phase-out of the use 
of oil, gas, and coal in order to keep the carbon that is 
the primary constituent of fossil fuels in the ground and 
out of the atmosphere; 
Whereas in 2022 some of the world’s largest oil and gas com-
panies reported record annual profits and rewarded 
shareholders with buybacks while knowingly exacerbating 
the ongoing climate crisis; 
Whereas the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Cli-
mate Change has determined that limiting warming 
through emissions reduction and carbon sequestration 
will require rapid and immediate acceleration and pro-
liferation of ‘‘far-reaching, multilevel, and cross-sectoral 
climate mitigation’’ and ‘‘transitions in energy, land, 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:28 May 02, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HC37.IH
HC37
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HCON 37 IH 
urban and rural infrastructure (including transport and 
buildings), and industrial systems’’; 
Whereas, in August 2022, the United States took its single 
most aggressive action to tackle the climate crisis and 
transition to create renewable energy solutions when the 
Inflation Reduction Act (in this resolution referred to as 
the ‘‘IRA’’) was signed into law by President Biden; 
Whereas the IRA includes $369 billion for energy security 
and climate change, including investments in disadvan-
taged communities, projects that repurpose retired fossil 
fuel infrastructure and employ displaced workers, and 
setting the United States on course for a renewable en-
ergy transition as soon as possible; 
Whereas the IRA creates new environmental justice block 
grants, establishes renewable energy financing, provides 
funding for Tribal communities to boost climate resil-
ience, makes it more affordable to purchase energy effi-
cient and electric appliances, incentivizes domestic manu-
facturing of renewable energy technologies, and will boost 
the renewable energy economy; 
Whereas the passage of the IRA is projected to reduce the 
United States global warming emissions between 31 per-
cent to 44 percent below 2005 levels by 2030; 
Whereas the UN Environment Programme still found in Oc-
tober 2022 that the existing commitments made in the 
Nationally Determined Contributions since the 2015 
Paris Climate Conference are insufficient to limit warm-
ing to 1.5 degrees Celsius; 
Whereas urgent governmental action is still required to ad-
dress the severe environmental, economic, social, public 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:28 May 02, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HC37.IH
HC37
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HCON 37 IH 
health, and national security threats posed by the climate 
crisis; 
Whereas the massive scope and scale of action necessary to 
stabilize the climate will continue to require unprece-
dented levels of public awareness, engagement, and delib-
eration to develop and implement effective, just, and eq-
uitable policies to address the climate crisis; 
Whereas the United States has a proud history of collabo-
rative, constructive, massive-scale Federal mobilizations 
of resources and labor in order to solve great challenges, 
such as the Interstate Highway System, the Apollo 11 
Moon landing, Reconstruction, the New Deal, and World 
War II; 
Whereas the Constitution of the United States protects the 
fundamental rights to life, liberty, property, and equal 
protection of the laws, and a climate system capable of 
sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and or-
dered society as well as the preservation of our funda-
mental rights; 
Whereas 18 national governments across the world and the 
European Union have declared a climate emergency, as 
well as the State of Hawaii and more than 190 other cit-
ies, counties, and local jurisdictions in the United States; 
Whereas the United States maintains existing resources and 
international commitments for bilateral and multilateral 
assistance to support economically emerging countries, 
including the Green Climate Fund, the Clean Technology 
Fund, the Adaptation Fund, the Least Developed Coun-
tries Fund, and the International Sustainable Land-
scapes programs, that should be supported with robust 
funding levels; 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:28 May 02, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HC37.IH
HC37
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HCON 37 IH 
Whereas President Biden also maintains existing Executive 
authority under the National Environmental Policy Act, 
the Mineral Leasing Act, the Outer Continental Shelf 
Lands Act, the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production 
Act, the Clean Water Act, the Natural Gas Act, and the 
Clean Air Act that can be used to address the ongoing 
climate crisis; 
Whereas, under these existing authorities, the President can 
phase down the rate of fossil fuel production on federal 
lands and in federal waters, limit gas exports, halt ap-
proval of new fossil fuel infrastructure projects, establish 
national limits for greenhouse gases, and decarbonize 
transportation; 
Whereas a national climate emergency declaration would fur-
ther unlock the broad powers of the National Emergency 
Act, the Defense Production Act, and the Stafford Dis-
aster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act; 
Whereas such a declaration can be used to further reduce 
greenhouse gas emissions, address environmental injus-
tice, invest in large scale mitigation and resiliency 
projects, create additional jobs with family sustaining 
wages and benefits, and ensure a just transition to a re-
newable energy economy; 
Whereas such a declaration will allow the United States to 
further mobilize domestic industry, ramp up domestic 
manufacturing of renewable energy technologies, and de-
ploy resilient energy infrastructure; 
Whereas such a declaration can also reinstate the ban on 
crude oil exports, suspend offshore fossil fuel leases, curb 
fossil fuel imports, and stop the hundreds of billions of 
dollars in investments in fossil fuel projects abroad while 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:28 May 02, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HC37.IH
HC37
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HCON 37 IH 
taking additional steps toward strengthening our emer-
gency preparedness for thousands of high-risk commu-
nities; 
Whereas such a declaration necessitates the adoption of poli-
cies and processes rooted in principles of racial equity, 
self-determination, and democracy, as well as the funda-
mental human rights of all people to clean air and water, 
healthy food, adequate land, education, and shelter, as 
promulgated in the 1991 Principles of Environmental 
Justice; 
Whereas front-line communities, Tribal Governments and 
communities, people of color, and labor unions must be 
equitably and actively engaged in a national climate 
emergency declaration, in such a way that aligns with the 
1996 Jemez Principles of Democratic Organizing, and 
prioritized through local climate mitigation and adapta-
tion planning, policy, and program delivery so that work-
ers in the United States, and the communities of those 
workers, are guaranteed a strong, viable economic future; 
and 
Whereas the United States has an obligation, as a primary 
driver of accelerated climate change, to mobilize at emer-
gency speed to ensure the safest climate and environment 
possible not just for communities of the United States 
but for communities across the world, particularly those 
on the front lines of the climate crisis which have least 
contributed to the crisis, and to account for global and 
community impacts of any actions it takes in response to 
the climate crisis: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that– 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:28 May 02, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\HC37.IH
HC37
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB
•HCON 37 IH 
(1) climate change caused by human activities, 
which increase emissions of greenhouse gases, con-
stitutes a climate emergency that— 
(A) severely and urgently impacts the eco-
nomic and social well-being, health, safety, and 
national security of the United States; and 
(B) demands that the President wield both 
existing authorities and emergency powers to 
ensure a national, social, industrial, and eco-
nomic mobilization of the resources and labor of 
the United States at a massive scale to mitigate 
and prepare for the consequences of the climate 
emergency for current and future generations; 
and 
(2) nothing in this concurrent resolution con-
stitutes a declaration of a national emergency for 
the purposes of any Act of Congress authorizing the 
exercise, during the period of a national emergency 
or other type of declared emergency, of any special 
or extraordinary power. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:28 May 02, 2023
Jkt 039200
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HC37.IH
HC37
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB