I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2578 
To seek the renegotiation of the Paris Agreement on climate change or 
the negotiation of a new agreement, including the requirement for the 
Senate to provide its advice and consent to ratification of any such 
agreement, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 15, 2021 
Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana (for himself, Mrs. RODGERS of Washington, Mr. 
MCCAUL, Mr. MCCARTHY, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. LUCAS, Mr. THOMPSON of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. WESTERMAN, Ms. FOXX, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. CARTER 
of Georgia, Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio, Mrs. MILLER of West Virginia, and 
Mr. ARMSTRONG) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on 
Rules, 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 
A BILL 
To seek the renegotiation of the Paris Agreement on climate 
change or the negotiation of a new agreement, including 
the requirement for the Senate to provide its advice 
and consent to ratification of any such agreement, and 
for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may cited as the ‘‘Paris Transparency and 
Accountability Act’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT THE UNITED STATES 
SHOULD NOT REENTER THE PARIS AGREE-
MENT ABSENT FURTHER NEGOTIATIONS AND 
ADVICE AND CONSENT TO RATIFICATION OF 
THE UNITED STATES SENATE. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) On May 9, 1992, the United States Senate 
provided its advice and consent to ratification re-
garding the United Nations Framework Convention 
on Climate Change (Framework Convention), which 
entered into force on March 21, 1994. 
(2) The Framework Convention was ratified 
under the express limitation that a decision by the 
Conference of the Parties to adopt targets and time-
tables would have to be submitted to the Senate for 
its advice and consent. 
(3) The Kyoto Protocol, completed at the 3d 
Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Framework 
Convention in December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan, con-
tains emissions targets and timetables, and was 
signed by the Clinton Administration on behalf of 
the United States but never submitted to the Senate 
for its advice and consent to ratification. 
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(4) The United Nations Climate Change 
website states: ‘‘The Paris Agreement is a legally 
binding international treaty on climate change.’’. 
And yet this United Nations designated ‘‘legally 
binding international treaty’’ has never been sub-
mitted to the United States Senate for advice and 
consent as required of treaties under article II, sec-
tion 2 of the Constitution. 
(5) The Paris Agreement and every article and 
clause thereof was accepted by President Barack 
Obama on behalf of the United States solely through 
executive action, rather than submitted to the Sen-
ate for its advice and consent to ratification. 
(6) Implementation of the Paris Agreement 
would serve as justification for pursuing unilateral 
and punitive policies harmful to United States eco-
nomic competitiveness, including significant job loss, 
increased energy and consumer costs, risks to grid 
reliability, or any combination thereof. 
(7) When originally negotiating the Paris 
Agreement, incoming Special Presidential Envoy for 
Climate John Kerry stated, if . . . ‘‘all the indus-
trial nations went down to zero emissions, it 
wouldn’t be enough, not when more than 65 percent 
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of the world’s carbon pollution comes from the devel-
oping world’’. 
(8) The Paris Agreement allows the People’s 
Republic of China, the world’s second largest econ-
omy and largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, to 
continue as a developing country, and therefore jus-
tify energy and industrial policies that undermine 
the economic and security interests of the United 
States and its allies, and significantly increase emis-
sions in the foreseeable future. 
(9) The People’s Republic of China is on track 
to increase its emissions by roughly 50 percent by 
2030, consistent with the 2014 agreement with the 
Obama Administration and its pledge under the 
Paris Agreement. 
(10) Since 2005 the People’s Republic of China 
increased emissions by four tons for every ton of 
emissions reduced by the United States during the 
same period. 
(11) To protect the interests of the United 
States and its citizens, prior to its submission to the 
United States Senate for its advice and consent to 
ratification, the Paris Agreement should be renegoti-
ated or new agreement negotiated to ensure the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China reduces greenhouse gas 
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emissions at a pace and scale equivalent to that of 
the United States. 
(12) Through innovation and free market 
forces, the United States has reduced its carbon di-
oxide emissions more than any other country in the 
world, including the next 12 emissions-reducing 
countries combined over the past 15 years. 
(13) Between 1994 and 2018, global green-
house gas emissions grew significantly despite nearly 
a quarter century of international climate agree-
ments and in spite of the United States, the Euro-
pean Union and other Organisation for Economic 
Co-operation and Development (OECD) and G7 na-
tions reducing their emissions during the same time 
period. 
(14) The emissions reduction goals of the Paris 
Agreement cannot be met without the development 
and global deployment of affordable energy tech-
nologies, including storage, nuclear, and clean fossil 
technologies, as well as commercial-scale carbon, 
capture, utilization, and storage technologies. 
(15) American economic growth and prosperity 
is essential to the development and deployment of 
these technologies to address global energy security 
and reduction of global emissions. Punitive policies 
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such as taxes, mandates and regulations that in-
crease the cost of energy and American manufac-
turing will divert resources from the innovation of 
affordable technologies necessary to reduce global 
emissions. 
(16) Global competitors to exported American 
liquified natural gas, such as Russian produced nat-
ural gas, have lifecycle emissions up to 50 percent 
higher than American exported liquified natural gas, 
and domestic policies such as taxes, mandates, regu-
lations or banning of the domestically produced en-
ergy resource will result in higher global emissions 
and run counter to the goals of international efforts 
to reduce emissions all while hurting America’s com-
petitiveness, security, and economic interests. 
(17) The United States withdrew from the 
Paris Agreement, pursuant to the terms of the 
Agreement, which President Donald J. Trump first 
announced on June 1, 2017, and took effect on No-
vember 4, 2020. 
(18) On January 20, 2021, President Joseph 
R. Biden, Jr., signed an Executive order providing 
for the United States to reenter the Paris Agree-
ment. 
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(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the United States should not reenter the Paris 
Agreement and Congress should refuse to consider any 
budget resolutions and appropriations language that in-
clude funding for the Green Climate Fund or any affili-
ated body or financing mechanism— 
(1) until the Paris Agreement is renegotiated, 
or a new agreement is reached, in a manner that 
would result in all major emitters, including the Peo-
ple’s Republic of China, reducing their greenhouse 
gas emissions to levels comparable to the United 
States; and 
(2) unless such agreement— 
(A) is submitted to the United States Sen-
ate for its advice and consent to ratification; 
and 
(B) subsequently approved by the United 
States Senate exercising its responsibilities 
under Article II of the Constitution of the 
United States. 
SEC. 3. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION RELATING TO PARIS 
AGREEMENT. 
(a) RELATING TO PARIS AGREEMENT.—Nothing in 
the Paris Agreement may be used to establish or dem-
onstrate the existence of a violation of United States law 
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or an offense against the law of nations in United States 
courts, including— 
(1) to establish standing, a cause of action, or 
a source of damages as a matter of law; or 
(2) to demonstrate whether an action by a Fed-
eral agency is arbitrary or capricious, an abuse of 
discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. 
(b) RELATING TO THIS ACT.—Nothing in subsection 
(a) may be construed to modify or limit any obligation 
of the United States pursuant to an international treaty 
that was ratified by the President with the advice and con-
sent of the Senate, including the United Nations Frame-
work Convention on Climate Change. 
SEC. 4. ACTIONS TO ESTABLISH OR REVISE UNITED STATES 
NATIONALLY DETERMINED CONTRIBUTION 
UNDER THE PARIS AGREEMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Any action to establish or revise 
the United States nationally determined contribution 
under the Paris Agreement shall have force and effect only 
if— 
(1) before the President submits the nationally 
determined contribution to the United Nations 
Framework Convention on Climate Change Secre-
tariat, the President submits to Congress a report 
that— 
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(A) describes the proposed action; 
(B) includes a plan for the United States 
to meet its nationally determined contribution 
under the Paris Agreement that includes— 
(i) a complete description of measures 
under the authority of the Federal Govern-
ment necessary to achieve the United 
States nationally determined contribution, 
including new or revised regulations, new 
or revised authorities that require congres-
sional actions, and new or revised financial 
incentives; 
(ii) a description of how the United 
States will use the Paris Agreement’s 
transparency provisions to confirm that 
other parties to the Agreement, including 
all major emitters, are fulfilling their an-
nounced contributions to the Agreement; 
(iii) a description of how the United 
States 
will 
utilize 
numerous 
energy 
sources, including nuclear, fossil fuel, and 
renewable technologies, to meet the nation-
ally determined contribution; 
(iv) a description of any impact on 
grid resilience and reliability that would re-
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sult from policies necessary to meet the na-
tionally determined contribution; 
(v) a description of how the nationally 
determined contribution will promote the 
availability of diversified energy supplies 
and a well-functioning global market for 
energy resources, technologies, and exper-
tise for the benefit of the United States 
and United States allies and trading part-
ners; 
(vi) a description of how the nation-
ally determined contribution will support 
United States international efforts to al-
leviate energy poverty; 
(vii) an analysis of the impact of in-
creased costs of energy or vital household 
expenditures on low- or middle-income 
families, and any disproportionate or in-
creased burden on such families, as a re-
sult of the nationally determined contribu-
tion; 
(viii) a description of how the nation-
ally determined contribution will support 
United States efforts to counter malign 
Chinese, Russian, and other adversarial in-
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measures are fully implemented and in effect 
prior to, or simultaneously with, the implemen-
tation and effect of the measures described in 
subparagraph (B)(i) in order to effectively 
counteract any negative impacts on domestic 
jobs and manufacturing; 
(E) includes an analysis of the nationally 
determined contributions submitted with the re-
spect to the Paris Agreement by the Govern-
ment of the People’s Republic of China and the 
Government of the Russian Federation, the an-
ticipated effects on their respective domestic 
greenhouse gas emissions, and the anticipated 
effects on their respective global competitive-
ness; 
(F) describes how the United States na-
tionally determined contribution will impact the 
level of total global emissions, based on the 
most recent available global emissions data, and 
how the United States nationally determined 
contribution in the aggregate with the nation-
ally determined contributions of other countries 
submitted under the Paris Agreement will re-
sult in a reduction of global emissions below 
2005 levels by 2036 or by the date that is 15 
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ment as proposed by the President in the report 
submitted to Congress under section 3(a)(1) of 
the Protecting American Resources, Innovation, 
and Sovereignty Act on ll relating to ll.’’, 
with the first blank space being filled with the 
appropriate date and the second blank space 
being filled with a short description of the pro-
posed action. 
(2) CONGRESSIONAL
PROCEDURES.—A joint 
resolution of disapproval shall be considered in the 
House of Representatives and the Senate in accord-
ance with paragraphs (4) through (6) of section 
135(e) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 
U.S.C. 2160e(e)). 
SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) MAJOR EMITTER.—The term ‘‘major emit-
ter’’ means any country, or defined group of coun-
tries that share a common nationally determined 
contribution under the Paris Agreement, that ac-
counts for at least one percent of global greenhouse 
gas emissions based on most recent data as deter-
mined by the Department of State. 
(2) PARIS
AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘Paris 
Agreement’’ means the decision by the United Na-
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tions Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 
21st Conference of Parties in Paris, France, adopted 
December 12, 2015. 
Æ 
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