Climate Emergency Act of 2021
Bill: S.938 | Sponsor: Sen. Sanders, Bernard (I-VT)
Policy area: Environmental Protection

Summary:
National Climate Emergency Act of 2021 or the Climate Emergency Act of 2021
This bill directs the President to declare a national emergency relating to climate change. Further, the President must ensure that the federal government invests in projects to mitigate the emergency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At least 40% of such investments must be for historically disadvantaged communities.
In addition, the President must ensure that the federal government reinvests in existing public sector institutions and creates new public sector institutions to strategically mobilize and channel investments at the scale and pace required by the emergency.

To require the President to declare a national emergency relating to 
   climate change under the National Emergencies Act, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``National Climate Emergency Act of 
2021'' or the ``Climate Emergency Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) 2010 to 2019 was the hottest decade on record;
            (2) global atmospheric concentrations of the primary global 
        warming pollutant, carbon dioxide--
                    (A) have increased by 40 percent since 
                preindustrial times, from 280 parts per million to 415 
                parts per million, primarily due to human activities, 
                including burning fossil fuels and deforestation;
                    (B) are rising at a rate of 2 to 3 parts per 
                million annually; and
                    (C) 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;
            (3) global atmospheric concentrations of other greenhouse 
        gases, including methane, nitrous oxide, and 
        hydrofluorocarbons, have also increased substantially since 
        preindustrial times, primarily due to human activities, 
        including burning fossil fuels;
            (4) climate science and observations of climate change 
        impacts, including ocean warming and acidification, floods, 
        droughts, wildfires, and extreme weather, demonstrate that a 
        global rise in temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius above 
        preindustrial levels is already having dangerous impacts on 
        human populations and the environment;
            (5) 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 human health and safety, infrastructure, property, 
        industry, recreation, natural resources, agricultural systems, 
        and quality of life in the United States;
            (6) the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has 
        determined that climate change is already increasing the 
        frequency of extreme weather and other climate-related 
        disasters, including drought, wildfire, and storms that include 
        precipitation;
            (7) climate-related natural disasters have increased 
        exponentially 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 natural disasters during 
        that period of approximately $100,000,000,000 per year;
            (8) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have 
        found wide-ranging, acute, and fatal public health consequences 
        from climate change that impact communities across the United 
        States;
            (9) the National Climate and Health Assessment of the 
        United States Global Change Research Program identified climate 
        change as a significant threat to the health of the people of 
        the United States, leading to increased--
                    (A) temperature-related deaths and illnesses;
                    (B) air quality impacts;
                    (C) extreme weather events;
                    (D) numbers of vector-borne diseases;
                    (E) waterborne illnesses;
                    (F) food safety, nutrition, and distribution 
                complications; and
                    (G) mental health and well-being concerns;
            (10) the consequences of climate change already 
        disproportionately impact frontline communities and endanger 
        populations made especially vulnerable by existing exposure to 
        extreme weather events, including children, the elderly, and 
        individuals with pre-existing disabilities and health 
        conditions;
            (11) individuals and families on the frontlines of climate 
        change across the United States, including territories, living 
        with income inequality and poverty, institutional racism, 
        inequity on the basis of gender and sexual orientation, 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--
                    (A) are often the first exposed to the impacts of 
                climate change;
                    (B) 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
                    (C) have the fewest resources to mitigate those 
                impacts or to relocate, which will exacerbate 
                preexisting challenges;
            (12) according to Dr. Robert Bullard and Dr. Beverly 
        Wright, ``environmental and public health threats from natural 
        and human-made disasters are not randomly distributed, 
        affecting some communities more than others'', 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, as described in the 17 Principles of Environmental 
        Justice written and adopted at the First National People of 
        Color Environmental Leadership Summit held on October 24 
        through 27, 1991, in Washington, DC, of racial and socio-
        economic equity, self-determination, and democracy, as well as 
        the fundamental human right of all people to clean air and 
        water, healthy food, health care, adequate land, education, and 
        shelter;
            (13) climate change holds grave and immediate consequences 
        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, which are at risk of forced displacement;
            (14) 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;
            (15) the United States Department of State, Department of 
        Defense, and intelligence community have identified climate 
        change as a threat to national security, and the Department of 
        Homeland Security views climate change as a top homeland 
        security risk;
            (16) climate change is a threat multiplier with the 
        potential--
                    (A) 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
                    (B) to produce new, unforeseeable challenges in the 
                future;
            (17) 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;
            (18) the climatic changes resulting from global warming 
        above 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, including 
        changes resulting from global warming of more than 2 degrees 
        Celsius above preindustrial levels, are projected to result in 
        irreversible, catastrophic changes to public health, 
        livelihoods, quality of life, food security, water supplies, 
        human security, and economic growth;
            (19) 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 extinction, which threatens the food 
        security, water supply, and well-being of billions of people;
            (20) according to climate scientists, limiting warming to 
        no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, 
        and likely lower, is most likely to avoid irreversible and 
        catastrophic climate change;
            (21) even with global warming up to 1.5 degrees Celsius 
        above preindustrial levels, the planet is projected to 
        experience--
                    (A) a significant rise in sea levels;
                    (B) extraordinary loss of biodiversity; and
                    (C) intensifying droughts, floods, wildfires, and 
                other extreme weather events;
            (22) according to climate scientists, addressing the 
        climate emergency will require an economically just phase-out 
        of the use of oil, gas, and coal in order to keep carbon, which 
        is the primary constituent of fossil fuels, in the ground and 
        out of the atmosphere;
            (23) the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
        Change has determined that limiting warming through emissions 
        reduction and carbon sequestration will require rapid, and 
        immediate, acceleration and proliferation of ``far-reaching, 
        multilevel, and cross-sectoral climate mitigation'' and 
        ``transitions in energy, land, urban and rural infrastructure 
        (including transport and buildings), and industrial systems'';
            (24) 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;
            (25) the massive scope and scale of action necessary to 
        stabilize the climate will require unprecedented levels of 
        public awareness, engagement, and deliberation to develop and 
        implement effective, just, and equitable policies to address 
        the climate crisis;
            (26) the Constitution of the United States protects the 
        fundamental right to life, liberty, property, and equal 
        protection of the laws;
            (27) a climate system capable of sustaining human life is 
        fundamental to a free and ordered society, and is preservative 
        of fundamental rights, including the right to life, liberty, 
        property, personal security, family autonomy, bodily integrity, 
        and the ability to learn, practice, and transmit cultural and 
        religious traditions;
            (28) the United States has a proud history of 
        collaborative, constructive, massive-scale Federal 
        mobilizations of resources and labor in order to solve great 
        challenges, including the Interstate Highway System, the Apollo 
        11 Moon landing, Reconstruction, the New Deal, and World War 
        II;
            (29) the United States stands uniquely poised to 
        substantially grow the economy and attain social and health 
        benefits from a massive mobilization of resources and labor 
        that far outweigh the costs of inaction;
            (30) millions of middle class jobs can be created by 
        raising 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 communities of those 
        workers are guaranteed a strong, viable economic future in a 
        zero-emissions economy that guarantees good jobs at fair union 
        wages with quality benefits;
            (31) frontline communities, Tribal governments and 
        communities, people of color, and labor unions must be 
        equitably and actively engaged in the climate mobilization, in 
        a way that aligns with the Jemez Principles for Democratic 
        Organizing written and adopted at the Working Group Meeting for 
        Globalization and Trade held on December 6 through 8, 1996, in 
        Jemez, Mexico, and prioritized through local climate mitigation 
        and adaptation planning, policy, and program delivery so that 
        workers in the United States, the communities of those workers, 
        are guaranteed a strong, viable economic future;
            (32) a number of local jurisdictions and governments in the 
        United States, including New York City and Los Angeles, and 
        across the world, including the United Kingdom, 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;
            (33) State, local, and Tribal governments must be supported 
        in efforts to hold to account those actors whose activities 
        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;
            (34) a collaborative response to the climate crisis will 
        require the Federal Government to work with international, 
        State, and local governments, including with those governments 
        that have declared a climate emergency, to reverse the impacts 
        of the climate crisis; and
            (35) the United States has an obligation, as a primary 
        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 territories, 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 response to the climate crisis.

SEC. 3. EMERGENCY DECLARATION.

    (a) In General.--The President shall declare a national emergency 
under section 201 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1621) 
relating to climate change.
    (b) Response.--In response to the national emergency declared under 
subsection (a), the President shall ensure that the Federal 
Government--
            (1) invests in large-scale mitigation and resiliency 
        projects, including projects that--
                    (A) upgrade public infrastructure to expand access 
                to clean and affordable energy, transportation, high-
                speed broadband, and water infrastructure, with a 
                particular focus on public systems;
                    (B) modernize and retrofit millions of homes, 
                schools, offices, and industrial buildings to reduce 
                pollution and energy costs;
                    (C) invest in public health in preparation for, and 
                in response to, increasingly extreme climactic events;
                    (D) protect and restore wetlands, forests, public 
                land, and other natural climate solutions;
                    (E) create opportunities for farmers and rural 
                communities, including by bolstering regenerative 
                agriculture and investing in local and regional food 
                systems that support farmers, agricultural workers, 
                healthy soil, and climate resilience;
                    (F) develop and transform the industrial base of 
                the United States while creating high-skill and high-
                wage manufacturing jobs, including by--
                            (i) expanding the manufacturing of clean 
                        energy technologies;
                            (ii) reducing industrial pollution; and
                            (iii) prioritizing clean, domestic 
                        manufacturing for the projects described in 
                        clauses (i) and (ii); and
                    (G) establish new employment programs, as 
                necessary, to meet the goals of the projects described 
                in subparagraphs (A) through (F);
            (2) with respect to the investments made for projects 
        described in paragraph (1), enables--
                    (A) a racially and socially just transition to a 
                clean energy economy by ensuring that at least 40 
                percent of investments made under this subsection are 
                to historically disadvantaged communities;
                    (B) the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions;
                    (C) resilience in the face of climate change 
                impacts;
                    (D) support for small businesses, particularly 
                women-owned and minority-owned small businesses; and
                    (E) the expansion of public services;
            (3) avoids projects, as described in paragraph (1), that--
                    (A) increase inequality;
                    (B) exacerbate, or fail to reduce, pollution at the 
                source;
                    (C) violate human rights;
                    (D) privatize public land, public water, or natural 
                resources;
                    (E) expedite the destruction of ecosystems; or
                    (F) decrease union density or membership;
            (4) with respect to the projects described in paragraph 
        (1), creates jobs that conform to labor standards that--
                    (A) provide family-sustaining wages and benefits;
                    (B) ensure a safe workplace;
                    (C) protect the rights of workers to organize; and
                    (D) prioritize the hiring of local workers to 
                ensure wages stay within communities and stimulate 
                local economic activity;
            (5) prioritizes local and equitable hiring and contracting 
        for the projects described in paragraph (1) that create 
        opportunities for--
                    (A) communities of color and indigenous 
                communities;
                    (B) women;
                    (C) veterans;
                    (D) individuals in the LGBTQIA+ community;
                    (E) individuals who are disabled or chronically 
                ill;
                    (F) individuals who were formerly incarcerated; and
                    (G) other marginalized individuals and communities;
            (6) through the projects described in paragraph (1), 
        combats environmental injustice, including by--
                    (A) curtailing air, water, and land pollution from 
                all sources;
                    (B) removing health hazards from marginalized 
                communities;
                    (C) remediating the cumulative health and 
                environmental impacts of toxic pollution and climate 
                change;
                    (D) ensuring that affected communities have 
                equitable access to public health resources that have 
                been systemically denied to communities of color and 
                indigenous communities; and
                    (E) upholding the fundamental rights of all people 
                in the United States to be free from the perils of 
                climate change; and
            (7) reinvests in existing, and creates new, public sector 
        institutions, inspired by and improving on New Deal-era public 
        sector institutions by addressing historic inequities, to 
        strategically and coherently mobilize and channel investment at 
        the scale and pace required by the national emergency declared 
        under subsection (a).
    (c) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, and annually thereafter, the President shall submit to 
Congress a report describing actions taken in response to the national 
emergency declared under subsection (a).
                                 <all>