I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4986 
To authorize appropriations for climate financing, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 5, 2019 
Mr. ESPAILLAT
(for himself, Ms. HAALAND, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. 
HUFFMAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, and Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois) 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Green Climate Fund 
Authorization Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that— 
(1) climate change most severely impacts vul-
nerable and disadvantaged communities in the 
United States and around the world; 
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(2) it is the responsibility of the United States 
Government to work with its global partners to pro-
mote environmental justice and climate justice; 
(3) the report of the United Nations Environ-
ment Programme entitled ‘‘Climate Change and the 
Cost of Capital in Developing Countries’’, dated May 
2018, found that, in the 10 years prior to the publi-
cation of the report, climate vulnerability has cost 
the 20 nations most affected by catastrophes rooted 
in climate change an additional $62,000,000,000 in 
interest payments alone; 
(4) individuals and families, particularly com-
munities of color, indigenous communities, and low- 
income communities, that are on the frontlines of 
climate change across the globe are often in close 
proximity to environmental stressors or sources of 
pollution; 
(5) the communities described in paragraph 
(4)— 
(A) are often the first exposed to the 
causes and impacts of climate change; and 
(B) have the fewest resources with which 
to mitigate those impacts or to relocate; 
(6) all efforts to adapt to and mitigate climate 
change must include specific protections for and ac-
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knowledgment of the harm of climate change to 
communities of color, indigenous peoples, women, 
and other frontline communities and marginalized 
peoples around the world; 
(7) in Paris, on December 12, 2015, the parties 
to the United Nations Framework Convention on 
Climate Change adopted the Paris Agreement, a 
benchmark agreement— 
(A) to combat climate change; and 
(B) to accelerate and intensify the actions 
and investments needed for a sustainable low 
carbon future; 
(8) the Paris Agreement, to which the United 
States is a party, acknowledges, ‘‘Parties should, 
when taking action to address climate change, re-
spect, promote and consider their respective obliga-
tions on human rights, the right to health, the rights 
of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants, 
children, persons with disabilities and people in vul-
nerable situations and the right to development, as 
well as gender equality, empowerment of women and 
intergenerational equity’’; 
(9) the Paris Agreement— 
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(A) notes the importance of ‘‘climate jus-
tice’’ when mitigating and adapting to climate 
change; and 
(B) recognizes ‘‘the need for an effective 
and progressive response to the urgent threat of 
climate change’’; 
(10) it is imperative for all countries to under-
take mitigation activities to rapidly meet the goal of 
limiting global warming to not more than 1.5 de-
grees Celsius; 
(11) developed countries have the greatest ca-
pacity to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions, 
while— 
(A) developing countries have the least ca-
pacity to engage in mitigation activities; and 
(B) the capacity of developing countries to 
engage in mitigation activities is less than the 
national mitigation potential of those developing 
countries; 
(12) the determination for the fair share of 
mitigation and adaptation activities for each country 
must take into account— 
(A) the historic greenhouse gas emissions 
of each country; and 
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(16) the $100,000,000,000 commitment de-
scribed in paragraph (15) was a political com-
promise that falls short of the actual financing needs 
for climate action in developing countries; 
(17) Bloomberg New Energy Finance has esti-
mated that the transition to renewable energy 
sources in developing countries will require hundreds 
of billions of dollars annually; 
(18) the United Nations Environment Pro-
gramme has estimated that adaptation needs relat-
ing to climate change in developing countries may be 
as much as $300,000,000,000 annually by 2030; 
(19) the Green Climate Fund was created in 
2010 by 194 countries to serve as a crucial financ-
ing mechanism to help developing countries limit or 
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to cli-
mate change; 
(20) in 2015, the United Nations Framework 
Convention on Climate Change agreed that the 
Green Climate Fund should serve the goals of the 
Paris Agreement, which states that ‘‘developed coun-
try Parties shall provide financial resources to assist 
developing country Parties with respect to both miti-
gation and adaptation in continuation of their exist-
ing obligations under the Convention’’; 
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(21) the Green Climate Fund is an essential in-
stitution for climate financing, as the Green Climate 
Fund ensures— 
(A) balanced governance between developed 
and developing countries; 
(B) stakeholder engagement and discourse; 
(C) a balanced approach between mitiga-
tion and adaptation; 
(D) fair and equal labor and working con-
ditions; 
(E) conservation of biodiversity and critical 
habitats; and 
(F) strong environmental, social, and gen-
der protections; 
(22) the Green Climate Fund— 
(A) promotes and protects human rights 
and the rights of marginalized groups, including 
indigenous peoples, women, children, and people 
with disabilities; and 
(B) continues to take steps to strengthen 
protection for marginalized groups; 
(23) 
the 
United 
States 
committed 
$3,000,000,000 of the first $10,000,000,000 raised 
for the initial resource mobilization period of the 
Green Climate Fund, though only 1⁄3 of this pledge 
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was fulfilled, leaving the United States the only 
country to fall substantially short of a commitment 
of a country to the Green Climate Fund; and 
(24) the Green Climate Fund is a fully oper-
ational and proven institution supporting well over 
100 projects and programs in developing countries 
around the world. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States to provide climate 
financing— 
(1) as an essential part of the global effort to 
combat climate change; and 
(2) that— 
(A) upholds the principles of environmental 
justice and climate justice; 
(B) supports programs and projects devel-
oped by recipient countries and communities; 
(C) is designed and implemented with the 
free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous 
peoples and other impacted communities; 
(D) promotes gender equality as essential 
in all of the projects and programs supported 
by climate financing; 
(E) includes best practices for environ-
mental and social safeguards to ensure that 
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projects and programs supported by climate fi-
nancing respect fundamental human rights; and 
(F) addresses both mitigation and adapta-
tion as essential aspects of responding to cli-
mate change. 
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro-
priated for fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year thereafter 
such sums as may be necessary for contributions to the 
Green Climate Fund— 
(1) to achieve the greenhouse gas emissions re-
ductions required to keep the planet at or below 1.5 
degrees Celsius of global warming, consistent with 
the goals of the Paris Agreement; and 
(2) to exceed the commitment by developed 
countries to jointly mobilize, starting in 2020, 
$100,000,000,000 for climate financing each year, 
as committed to in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord 
and reaffirmed in 2015 in Decision 1/CP.21 of the 
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 
Change, Adoption of the Paris Agreement. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that climate financing needs are significantly greater 
than those described in subsection (a)(2). 
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SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) CLIMATE FINANCING.—The term ‘‘climate 
financing’’ means the transfer of new and additional 
public funds from developed countries to developing 
countries for projects and programs that— 
(A) reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas 
emissions; 
(B) enhance and restore natural carbon se-
questration; and 
(C) promote adaptation to climate change. 
(2) GREEN CLIMATE FUND.—The term ‘‘Green 
Climate Fund’’ means the independent, multilateral 
fund— 
(A) established by parties to the United 
Nations Framework Convention on Climate 
Change; and 
(B) adopted by decision as part of the fi-
nancial mechanism of the United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change. 
(3) PARIS
AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘Paris 
Agreement’’ means the annex to Decision 1/CP.21 
adopted by the 21st Conference of Parties of the 
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 
Change in Paris, France, on December 12, 2015. 
Æ 
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