IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 52 
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 
JULY 9, 2019 
Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. LEE of California, 
Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, 
Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. SMITH of Wash-
ington, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. OMAR, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, 
Mr. HECK, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
LEVIN of Michigan, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. 
COHEN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. LARSON of Con-
necticut, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Ms. 
BARRAGA´N, Ms. MENG, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. LOWEY, 
and Mr. SUOZZI) submitted the following 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 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 were the 4 hottest 
years on record and the 20 warmest years on record have 
occurred within the past 22 years; 
Whereas global atmospheric concentrations of the primary 
heat-trapping gas, or greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide— 
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(1) have increased by 40 percent since preindustrial 
times, from 280 parts per million to 415 parts per mil-
lion, primarily due to human activities, including burning 
fossil fuels and deforestation; 
(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 green-
house gases, including methane, nitrous oxide, and 
hydrofluorocarbons, have also increased substantially 
since preindustrial times, primarily due to human activi-
ties, including burning fossil fuels; 
Whereas current climate science and real-world observations 
of climate change impacts, including ocean warming, 
ocean acidification, floods, droughts, wildfires, and ex-
treme weather, demonstrate that a global rise in tempera-
tures of 1 degree Celsius above preindustrial levels is al-
ready having dangerous impacts on human populations 
and the environment; 
Whereas the 2018 National Climate Assessment found that 
climate change due to global warming has caused, and is 
expected to cause additional, substantial interference with 
and growing losses to infrastructure, property, industry, 
recreation, 
natural 
resources, 
agricultural 
systems, 
human health and safety, and quality of life in the 
United States; 
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Whereas the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion has determined that climate change is already in-
creasing the frequency of extreme weather and other cli-
mate-related disasters, including drought, wildfire, and 
storms that include precipitation; 
Whereas climate-related natural disasters have increased ex-
ponentially over the past decade, costing the United 
States more than double the long-term average during 
the period of 2014 through 2018, with total costs of nat-
ural disasters during that period of approximately 
$100,000,000,000 per year; 
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has 
found wide-ranging, acute, and fatal public health con-
sequences from climate change that impact communities 
across the United States; 
Whereas the National Climate and Health Assessment of the 
United States Global Change Research Program identi-
fied climate change as a significant threat to the health 
of the people of the United States, leading to increased— 
(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 the consequences of climate change already dis-
proportionately impact frontline communities and endan-
ger populations made especially vulnerable by existing ex-
posure to extreme weather events, such as children, the 
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elderly, and individuals with pre-existing disabilities and 
health conditions; 
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) 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; 
(2) are often the first exposed to the impacts of cli-
mate change; and 
(3) have the fewest resources to mitigate those im-
pacts or to relocate, which will exacerbate preexisting 
challenges; 
Whereas, according to Dr. Robert Bullard and Dr. Beverly 
Wright, ‘‘environmental and public health threats from 
natural and human-made disasters are not randomly dis-
tributed,’’ therefore a response to the climate emergency 
necessitates the adoption of just community transition 
policies and processes available to all communities, which 
include policies and processes rooted in principles of ra-
cial equity, self-determination, and democracy, as well as 
the fundamental human right of all people to clean air 
and water, healthy food, adequate land, education, and 
shelter; 
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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 frontlines of the climate crisis that are at 
risk of forced displacement; 
Whereas communities in rural, urban, and suburban areas 
are all dramatically affected by climate change, though 
the specific economic, health, social, and environmental 
impacts may be different; 
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-
partment of Homeland Security views climate change as 
a top homeland security risk; 
Whereas climate change is a threat multiplier— 
(1) with the potential to exacerbate many of the 
challenges the United States already confronts, including 
conflicts over scarce resources, conditions conducive to 
violent extremism, and the spread of infectious diseases; 
and 
(2) because climate change has the potential to 
produce new, unforeseeable challenges in the future; 
Whereas, in 2018, the United Nations Intergovernmental 
Panel on Climate Change projected that the Earth could 
warm 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels as 
early as 2030; 
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-
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jected to result in irreversible, catastrophic changes to 
public health, livelihoods, quality of life, food security, 
water supplies, human security, and economic growth; 
Whereas, in 2019, the United Nations Intergovernmental 
Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem 
Services found that human-induced climate change is 
pushing the planet toward the sixth mass species extinc-
tion, which threatens the food security, water supply, and 
well-being of billions of people; 
Whereas, according to climate scientists, limiting global 
warming to not more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above 
preindustrial levels, and likely lower, is most likely to 
avoid irreversible and catastrophic climate change; 
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, prodigious floods, dev-
astating wildfires, and other extreme weather events; 
Whereas, according to climate scientists, addressing the cli-
mate emergency will require an economically just and 
managed phase-out of the use of oil, gas, and coal to 
keep fossil fuels in the ground; 
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, 
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urban and rural infrastructure (including transport and 
buildings), and industrial systems’’; 
Whereas, in the United States, massive, comprehensive, and 
urgent governmental action is required immediately to 
achieve the transitions of those systems in response to 
the severe existing and projected economic, social, public 
health, and national security threats posed by the climate 
crisis; 
Whereas the massive scope and scale of action necessary to 
stabilize the climate will require unprecedented levels of 
public awareness, engagement, and deliberation to de-
velop and implement effective, just, and equitable policies 
to address the climate crisis; 
Whereas failure to mobilize and solve the climate emergency 
is antithetical to the spirit of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence in protecting ‘‘unalienable Rights’’ that include 
‘‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’’; 
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 United States stands uniquely poised to sub-
stantially grow the economy and attain social and health 
benefits from a massive mobilization of resources and 
labor that far outweigh the costs of inaction; 
Whereas millions of middle class jobs can be created by rais-
ing labor standards through project labor agreements and 
protecting and expanding the right of workers to organize 
so that workers in the United States and the commu-
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nities of those workers are guaranteed a strong, viable 
economic future in a zero-emissions economy that guar-
antees good jobs at fair union wages, with quality bene-
fits; 
Whereas frontline communities, Tribal governments and com-
munities, people of color, and labor unions must be equi-
tably and actively engaged in the climate mobilization 
and prioritized through local climate mitigation and ad-
aptation planning, policy, and program delivery so that 
workers in the United States, the communities of those 
workers, are guaranteed a strong, viable economic future; 
Whereas a number of local jurisdictions and governments in 
the United States, including New York City and Los An-
geles, and across the world, including the United King-
dom, the Republic of Ireland, Portugal, and Canada, 
have already declared a climate emergency, and a number 
of State and local governments are considering declaring 
a climate emergency in response to the massive chal-
lenges posed by the climate crisis; 
Whereas State, local, and Tribal governments must be sup-
ported in efforts to hold to account actors whose activi-
ties have deepened and accelerated the climate crisis and 
who have benefitted from delayed action to address the 
climate change emergency and to develop a fossil fuel-free 
economy; 
Whereas a collaborative response to the climate crisis will re-
quire the Federal Government to work with international, 
State, and local governments, including with those gov-
ernments that have declared a climate emergency, to re-
verse the impacts of the climate crisis; and 
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Whereas the United States has an obligation, as a driver of 
accelerated climate change, to mobilize at emergency 
speed to restore a safe climate and environment not just 
for communities of the United States, including terri-
tories, but for communities across the world, particularly 
those on the frontlines of the climate crisis who have 
least contributed to the crisis, and to account for global 
and community impacts of any actions it takes in re-
sponse 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— 
(1) the global warming caused by human activi-
ties, which increase emissions of greenhouse gases, 
has resulted in a climate emergency that— 
(A) severely and urgently impacts the eco-
nomic and social well-being, health and safety, 
and national security of the United States; and 
(B) demands a national, social, industrial, 
and economic mobilization of the resources and 
labor of the United States at a massive scale to 
halt, reverse, mitigate, and prepare for the con-
sequences of the climate emergency and to re-
store the climate for future generations; and 
(2) nothing in this concurrent resolution con-
stitutes a declaration of a national emergency for 
purposes of any Act of Congress authorizing the ex-
ercise, during the period of a national emergency or 
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other type of declared emergency, of any special or 
extraordinary power. 
Æ 
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