IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 56 
Recognizing that the climate crisis disproportionately affects the health, eco-
nomic opportunity, and fundamental rights of children, expressing the 
sense of Congress that leadership by the United States is still urgently 
needed to address the climate crisis, and acknowledging the need of 
the United States to develop a national, comprehensive, science-based, 
and just climate recovery plan to phase out fossil fuel emissions, protect 
and enhance natural carbon sequestration, and put the United States 
on a path toward stabilizing the climate system. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 13, 2023 
Ms. SCHAKOWSKY (for herself, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. 
BARRAGA´N, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. 
OMAR, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. TRONE, Mr. NADLER, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. 
COHEN, Mr. LYNCH, Ms. NORTON, Ms. CHU, Ms. BUSH, Ms. CROCKETT, 
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. 
SARBANES, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. 
CASTOR of Florida, Mrs. TRAHAN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. 
MULLIN, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. TITUS, 
Ms. STANSBURY, Ms. WILSON
of Florida, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. 
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. LEE of Pennsylvania, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. 
HOYLE of Oregon, Ms. TOKUDA, Mr. FROST, Ms. ROSS, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. 
MORELLE, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. POCAN, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mrs. WAT-
SON COLEMAN, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. ROBERT GARCIA of Cali-
fornia, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. SALINAS, Mrs. FOUSHEE, Ms. 
DEGETTE, Mr. SOTO, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Ms. DEAN of Penn-
sylvania, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. MENG, Mr. THANEDAR, Ms. 
DELAURO, and Ms. PINGREE) submitted the following concurrent resolu-
tion; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Recognizing that the climate crisis disproportionately affects 
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the health, economic opportunity, and fundamental rights 
of children, expressing the sense of Congress that leader-
ship by the United States is still urgently needed to 
address the climate crisis, and acknowledging the need 
of the United States to develop a national, comprehen-
sive, science-based, and just climate recovery plan to 
phase out fossil fuel emissions, protect and enhance nat-
ural carbon sequestration, and put the United States 
on a path toward stabilizing the climate system. 
Whereas a stable climate system at the founding of the 
United States allowed human life and human civilization 
to flourish; 
Whereas the United States was founded on the deeply rooted 
principle of securing ‘‘the Blessings of Liberty to our-
selves and our Posterity’’; 
Whereas the Constitution of the United States protects the 
fundamental rights to life, liberty, property, and equal 
protection of the laws; 
Whereas a climate system capable of sustaining human life 
is fundamental to a free and ordered society and pre-
serves other fundamental rights, including the rights to 
life, liberty, property, personal security, family autonomy, 
bodily integrity, and the ability to learn, practice, and 
transmit cultural and religious traditions; 
Whereas fossil fuel use for energy in the United States has 
increased since the Industrial Revolution and accelerated 
such that the fossil fuel-based energy system in the 
United States has led to carbon dioxide emissions from 
the United States constituting more than 1⁄4 of cumu-
lative global carbon dioxide emissions; 
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Whereas the Federal Government sets the energy policy of 
the United States, which has resulted in an energy sys-
tem in the United States in which approximately 80 per-
cent of the energy produced in the United States comes 
from fossil fuels; 
Whereas the United States is the world’s largest producer of 
oil and gas, in substantial part through the Federal Gov-
ernment’s leasing of Federal public lands and waters for 
fossil fuel extraction and through actively promoting, per-
mitting, and subsidizing fossil fuel energy development 
and consumption; 
Whereas there is an overwhelming scientific consensus that 
human-caused climate change is occurring, that the scale 
of recent changes across the climate system is unprece-
dented in a multimillennial context, and that the present 
accelerated rate of global heating, glacier and ice sheet 
melting, sea level rise, and ocean acidification is a result 
of the buildup of atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions, 
primarily consisting of carbon dioxide emissions, largely 
from the combustion of fossil fuels; 
Whereas the accumulation of current atmospheric CO2 levels 
to an annual average of 419 parts per million (ppm) in 
2022 has caused a dangerous planetary energy imbal-
ance, equivalent to the amount of energy of exploding 
more than 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs per day, 
365 days per year, across the planet; 
Whereas current climate science and real-world observations 
of the energy imbalance demonstrate that the approxi-
mately 1 degree Celsius of warming that has already oc-
curred as a result of human-caused climate change is al-
ready dangerous and negatively affecting all aspects of 
society and the economy of the United States; 
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Whereas the last time atmospheric concentration of CO2 was 
around 400 ppm, the seas were up to 70 to 90 feet high-
er, the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets largely 
collapsed, and coral reefs suffered a major extinction; 
Whereas similar conditions will result if the United States 
does not drastically reduce CO2 emissions in addition to 
naturally sequestering and drawing down excess con-
centrations of CO2 already in the atmosphere from cumu-
lative historic emissions this century; 
Whereas the longer the length of time atmospheric carbon di-
oxide concentrations remain at dangerous levels, the risk 
of locking in dangerous warming-driven feedback loops 
and triggering accelerated heating and irreversible cata-
strophic impacts increases; 
Whereas climate change is a threat to national security, as 
it contributes to and exacerbates global instability and 
conflict; 
Whereas today’s children were born into a climate system 
that is harmful to their health and well-being because of 
human-caused climate change; 
Whereas children are uniquely vulnerable to human-caused 
climate change because of their developing bodies, higher 
exposure to air, food, and water relative to their body 
weight, unique behavior patterns, dependence on care-
givers, and longevity on the planet; 
Whereas human-caused climate change is a public health 
emergency that adversely and disproportionately impacts 
the physical health of children through, among other im-
pacts— 
(1) increases in extreme weather events, including 
increases in heavy rainfall, flooding, and hurricanes, that 
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cause disruptive evacuations, school closures, and dis-
placement; 
(2) increases in the frequency and intensity of ex-
treme heat waves and rising temperatures that cause in-
creased heat exposure and illness, which is a leading 
cause of death and illness in high school athletes, with 
nearly 10,000 episodes of heat illness occurring annually; 
(3) increases in infant mortality by 25 percent on 
extremely hot days, with the first 7 days of life rep-
resenting a period of critical vulnerability; 
(4) increases in drier conditions and drought, lead-
ing to an earlier wildfire season peak, and increased wild-
fire season length, wildfire frequency, and extent of 
burned area, exposing children to wildfire smoke that 
causes substantial eye symptoms, debilitating headaches 
and nausea, and upper and lower respiratory symptoms 
that lead to increased rates of asthma-related hospitaliza-
tions and emergency room visits; 
(5) decreased air quality as children are especially 
susceptible to air pollution given their developing lungs, 
higher ventilation rate, and higher levels of physical ac-
tivity; 
(6) increases in pollen concentration and a longer 
pollen season that contributes to allergic rhinitis, where 
8.4 percent of children suffer from allergic rhinitis; 
(7) altered infectious disease patterns; and 
(8) increases in food and water insecurity; 
Whereas the best scientific information available projects a 
15- to 30-foot rise in sea level by 2100 if current trends 
continue, with ever greater rises and acceleration in sub-
sequent centuries, resulting in increased erosion and the 
loss of land, causing the loss of communities, homes, in-
frastructure, agriculture, and coastal ecosystems for af-
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fected children, until such time as levels of CO2 in the 
atmosphere are dramatically reduced, and steps are taken 
to cool the upper portion of the ocean; 
Whereas extreme weather events can negatively impact chil-
dren’s mental health due to— 
(1) family loss or separation; 
(2) personal injury or injury of loved ones; 
(3) damage or loss to personal property and pets; 
(4) school interruption; 
(5) scarcities of food, water, and medicine; 
(6) public service outages; 
(7) displacement, along with the loss of a sense of 
home and a safe space; 
(8) loss of nature and cultural activities; and 
(9) feelings of uncertainty about the future and a 
belief that their government is not protecting them from 
climate change, all of which result in anxiety, trauma, 
shock, post-traumatic stress disorder, and chronic im-
pacts; 
Whereas, without immediate steps to address human-caused 
climate change, the health impacts on children will in-
crease in severity and in terms of the number of children 
impacted and exposed to dangerous conditions, and will 
cost the United States billions of dollars per year by the 
end of the century, with costs growing more expensive as 
the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere 
increases, and as chronic psychological consequences of 
climate-related stress increase; 
Whereas children will largely shoulder the costs of human- 
caused climate change, and further increases in the glob-
al temperature will saddle children with an enormous, 
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perhaps incalculable, cost burden, undermining the eco-
nomic security of children and the United States; 
Whereas, given their vulnerabilities, children are deserving of 
special consideration and protection with respect to 
human-caused climate change; 
Whereas children are a politically powerless minority without 
economic or political power to influence climate and en-
ergy policy, as they are denied the right to vote until they 
become 18 years old, and their interests are subjugated 
to the interests of adults; 
Whereas children on the front lines of human-caused climate 
change across the United States and globally have risen 
up and called upon government leaders around the world 
to take concrete, science-based, and equitable action to 
address human-caused climate change and to account for 
intergenerational inequities to ensure environmental and 
climate justice for their generation and future genera-
tions, including children from vulnerable communities 
that have borne the brunt of climate change; 
Whereas children within environmental justice communities, 
including communities of color, low-income communities, 
and Indigenous communities, that have contributed the 
least to emissions— 
(1) have long suffered from systemic environmental 
racism and social and economic injustices; 
(2) are more likely to reside in areas with greater 
exposure to air pollution, experience long-term exposure, 
and be disproportionately burdened by adverse health or 
environmental effects, including public health pandemics; 
(3) are subjected to disproportionate energy bur-
dens; and 
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(4) have less access to resources needed to cope with 
climate-related impacts; 
Whereas global atmospheric CO2 concentrations must be re-
duced to below 350 ppm by the end of the century, with 
further reductions thereafter, in order to restore the 
planet’s energy balance, stabilize the climate system, and 
protect the planet’s ice sheets and oceans for posterity; 
Whereas current and future adverse public health and other 
impacts and costs to children and the United States can 
be significantly mitigated if the United States acts 
promptly to reduce its emissions from fossil fuels; 
Whereas numerous experts have concluded that there are 
multiple technically and economically feasible pathways to 
place all sectors of the United States economy on an 
emissions reduction path consistent with returning global 
atmospheric CO2 to 350 ppm by 2100; 
Whereas producing the energy in the United States with non-
carbon-emitting sources will result in energy costs within 
the range of recent experience, ultimately saving con-
sumers money and stabilizing the cost of energy, while 
increasing the number of jobs across multiple sectors and 
the supply chain, and result in many co-benefits, includ-
ing public health and quality-of-life improvements, the 
prevention of premature death, infrastructural stability, 
and biodiversity protection; and 
Whereas multiple executive departments and agencies with 
authority delegated by Congress can exercise such au-
thority to prevent and respond to climate change, includ-
ing the Executive Office of the President, the Council on 
Environmental Quality, the Office of Management and 
Budget, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy, 
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the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Com-
merce, the Department of Defense, the Department of 
Energy, the Department of the Interior, the Department 
of State, the Department of Transportation, and the En-
vironmental Protection Agency: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) United States leadership is still urgently 
needed to act to address the human-caused climate 
crisis that disproportionately affects the health, eco-
nomic opportunity, and fundamental rights of chil-
dren in the United States; and 
(2) there is a human-caused climate crisis 
that— 
(A) has inspired children across the United 
States to organize and demand immediate gov-
ernment action to protect their fundamental 
rights from the perils of climate change; and 
(B) demands a national, comprehensive, 
science-based, and just climate recovery plan 
prepared by the departments and agencies of 
the executive branch with delegated authority 
over energy and climate policy, that puts the 
United States on a trajectory consistent with 
reducing global atmospheric CO2 to below 350 
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parts per million by the year 2100 to uphold 
children’s fundamental rights. 
Æ 
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