Title: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should work in cooperation with the international community and continue to exercise global leadership to address the causes and effects of climate change, and for other purposes.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution urges the United States to work with the international community to address the causes and effects of climate change and remain a party to the Paris Agreement and the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 404 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 404

 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should work 
    in cooperation with the international community and continue to 
exercise global leadership to address the causes and effects of climate 
                    change, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 31, 2019

  Mr. Cardin (for himself, Ms. Collins, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Schatz, Mr. 
 Markey, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Udall, Mr. Blumenthal, Mrs. Shaheen, Mrs. 
 Gillibrand, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Reed, Mr. Coons, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Booker, 
Ms. Warren, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Brown, Mr. Carper, Ms. Stabenow, Ms. Hirono, 
Mr. Kaine, Mrs. Feinstein, Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Harris, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. 
   Merkley, Mr. Murphy, Ms. Smith, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Sanders, Mr. 
 Warner, and Ms. Hassan) submitted the following resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should work 
    in cooperation with the international community and continue to 
exercise global leadership to address the causes and effects of climate 
                    change, and for other purposes.

Whereas the consensus among climatologists and scientists studying the effects 
        of atmospheric change, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
        Change, the National Academy of Science, the United States Geological 
        Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the 
        National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and other agencies 
        within the United States Global Change Research Program, have determined 
        that the impact of climate change will include widespread effects on 
        health and welfare, including increased outbreaks from waterborne 
        diseases, more droughts, diminished agricultural production, severe 
        storms and floods, heat waves, wildfires, and a substantial rise in 
        global sea levels;
Whereas the objective of the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 
        Change (UNFCCC) is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the 
        atmosphere at a level that will prevent dangerous human interference 
        with the climate system;
Whereas, under the UNFCCC, the United States is obligated to report its progress 
        on reducing emissions;
Whereas the Senate provided its advice and consent to the UNFCCC by division, 
        with two-thirds of Senators present voting in the affirmative, on 
        October 7, 1992;
Whereas, in 2011, at the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP 17) to the UNFCCC 
        in Durban, South Africa, parties agreed to negotiate an agreement by the 
        end of 2015 to reduce emissions in the post-2020 period;
Whereas the UNFCCC calls on parties to submit intended nationally determined 
        contributions outlining voluntary individual targets for emissions 
        reductions by the time parties convened in Paris on November 30, 2015, 
        for the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the UNFCCC;
Whereas, prior to completing the multilateral Paris Agreement on international 
        cooperation to address climate change, done at Paris December 12, 2015, 
        187 nations, representing more than 97 percent of global greenhouse gas 
        emissions, voluntarily submitted nationally determined goals and plans 
        to reduce their greenhouse gas pollution;
Whereas, according to research and data analysis conducted independently by 
        NOAA, NASA, the Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Science and 
        Services of the United Kingdom, the Japan Meteorological Agency, and 
        Berkeley Earth, each of the years 2014 through 2018 rank among the five 
        warmest years on record;
Whereas, according to NASA, 18 of the 19 warmest years on record have occurred 
        since 2000;
Whereas, according to NOAA, 2019 will likely be the second warmest year on 
        record, making the last six years the warmest years on record;
Whereas the United States-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change of November 
        2014 included a United States goal to reduce its emissions by 26-28 
        percent below 2005 levels by 2025 and a Chinese goal to peak emissions 
        output by 2030 and increase the use of non-fossil fuels to 20 percent of 
        its overall energy portfolio by 2030;
Whereas, under the United States-India Joint Announcement on Climate and Clean 
        Energy of January 2015, the two countries pledged to increase 
        cooperation on clean energy financing and development and India 
        committed to phase out use of hydrofluorocarbons and increase promotion 
        of energy efficiency tools and reaffirmed its commitment to add 100 
        gigawatts of solar capacity by 2022;
Whereas small island states, whose people are among the most vulnerable to 
        climate change, are threatened with partial or virtually total 
        inundation by imminent rises in sea level and increased intensity and 
        frequency of storms;
Whereas United States international leadership on the global stage throughout 
        the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's 21st 
        Conference of Parties process resulted in unprecedented international 
        cooperation and engagement on the development of the Paris Agreement;
Whereas the Paris Agreement received consensus approval from the more than 190 
        delegates to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change's 
        21st Conference of Parties;
Whereas the Paris Agreement reached its thresholds for entry into force faster 
        than any other multilateral international agreement of comparable size 
        and scope;
Whereas, as of the date of introduction of this resolution, 187 of the 197 
        parties to the Paris Agreement have officially joined the agreement, 
        demonstrating the urgency and importance the global community places on 
        addressing climate change;
Whereas studies conducted by the NASA Earth Observatory determined that as the 
        oceans have warmed, polar ice has melted and porous landmasses have 
        subsided, global mean sea level has risen by 8 inches (20 centimeters) 
        since 1870, and the rate of sea level rise is faster now than at any 
        time in the past 2,000 years, having doubled in the past two decades, 
        putting 55 to 60 percent of United States citizens who live in counties 
        touching the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, or the Great 
        Lakes at risk from the effects of sea level rise;
Whereas the Department of Defense has identified climate change as a ``threat 
        multiplier'' that will increase global instability and conflict, with 
        the potential to increase terrorism;
Whereas the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review states that ``[t]he impacts of 
        climate change may increase the frequency, scale, and complexity of 
        future missions, including defense support to civil authorities, while 
        at the same time undermining the capacity of our domestic installations 
        to support training activities,'' and notes that--

    (1) climate change may exacerbate water scarcity and lead to sharp 
increases in food costs;

    (2) the pressures caused by climate change will influence resource 
competition while placing additional burdens on economies, societies, and 
governance institutions around the world; and

    (3) these effects are threat multipliers that will aggravate stressors 
abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation, political instability, 
and social tensions--conditions that can enable terrorist activity and 
other forms of violence;

Whereas the Department of Defense report, ``National Security Implications of 
        Climate-Related Risks and a Changing Climate''--

    (1) states that global climate change will have wide-ranging 
implications for United States national security interests over the 
foreseeable future because it will aggravate existing problems, such as 
poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation, ineffectual 
leadership, and weak political institutions, that threaten domestic 
stability in a number of countries; and

    (2) identifies four general areas of climate-related risks: 
persistently recurring conditions such as flooding, drought, and higher 
temperatures; more frequent and more severe extreme weather events; sea 
level rise and temperature changes; and decreases in Arctic ice cover, 
type, and thickness;

Whereas the Director of National Intelligence's 2017 Global Trends Report 
        determined that--

    (1) changes in the climate will produce more extreme weather events and 
put greater stress on humans and critical systems, including oceans, 
freshwater, and biodiversity;

    (2) these changes, in turn, will have direct and indirect social, 
economic, political, and security effects; and

    (3) extreme weather can trigger crop failures, wildfires, energy 
blackouts, infrastructure breakdown, supply chain breakdowns, migration, 
and infectious disease outbreaks, and will be more pronounced as people 
concentrate in climate vulnerable locations, such as cities, coastal areas, 
and water-stressed regions;

Whereas the Department of Agriculture has determined that climate change is 
        likely to diminish continued progress on global food security through 
        production disruptions that lead to local availability limitations and 
        price increases, interrupted transport conduits, and diminished food 
        safety, among other causes;
Whereas, according to the World Bank, approximately 1,600,000,000 people 
        currently live in countries and regions with absolute water scarcity and 
        the number is expected to rise to 2,800,000,000 people by 2025 due to 
        the effects of climate change;
Whereas a 2018 special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 
        on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-
        industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways 
        found with ``high confidence'', in the context of strengthening the 
        global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable 
        development, and efforts to eradicate poverty, that--

    (1) human activities are estimated to have caused approximately 1.0 
degree Celsius of global warming above pre-industrial levels, with a likely 
range of 0.8 degrees Celsius to 1.2 degrees Celsius;

    (2) global warming is likely to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius between 2030 
and 2052 if global warming continues to increase at the current rate; and

    (3) climate-related risks for natural and human systems are higher for 
global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius than at present, but lower than at 2 
degrees Celsius; and

Whereas the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4) completed in November 
        2018, developed by the United States Global Change Research Program, in 
        collaboration and cooperation with 13 Federal agencies, ``to advance 
        understanding of the changing Earth system and maximize efficiencies in 
        Federal global change research''--

    (1) concludes that--

    G    (A) the evidence of human-caused climate change is overwhelming 
and continues to strengthen;

    G    (B) the impacts of climate change are intensifying across the 
United States;

    G    (C) climate-related threats to the physical, social, and economic 
well-being of the United States are rising; and

    G    (D) ``[t]he impacts and costs of climate change are already being 
felt in the United States, and changes in the likelihood or severity of 
some recent extreme weather events can now be attributed with increasingly 
higher confidence to human-caused warming''; and

    (2) includes summary findings that--

    G    (A) the quality and quantity of water available for use by people 
and ecosystems across the United States are being affected by climate 
change, increasing risks and costs to agriculture, energy production, 
industry, recreation, and the environment;

    G    (B) impacts from climate change on extreme weather and climate-
related events, air quality, and the transmission of disease through 
insects and pests, food, and water increasingly threaten the health and 
well-being of the people of the United States, particularly vulnerable 
populations;

    G    (C) climate change increasingly threatens the livelihoods, 
economies, health, and cultural identities of indigenous communities by 
disrupting interconnected social, physical, and ecological systems;

    G    (D) the aging and deteriorating infrastructure of the United 
States is further stressed by increases in heavy precipitation events, 
coastal flooding, heat, wildfires, and other extreme events, as well as 
changes to average precipitation and temperature; and

    G    (E) without adaptation, climate change will continue to degrade 
infrastructure performance over the rest of the century, with the potential 
for cascading impacts that threaten the economy, national security, and 
essential services of the United States and the health and well-being of 
the United States people: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the United States 
should--
            (1) work in cooperation with the international community 
        and continue to exercise global leadership in our shared 
        responsibilities, including holding parties accountable for 
        meeting their commitments, and address the causes and effects 
        of climate change;
            (2) remain party to the Paris Agreement and the UNFCCC;
            (3) reassert strong leadership in implementing the Paris 
        Agreement;
            (4) as acknowledged in the Nationally Determined 
        Contribution submitted by the United States to the UNFCCC in 
        2015, take action to substantially accelerate the current pace 
        of greenhouse gas emission reductions in order to achieve, or 
        surpass, the emissions reduction target of the United States;
            (5) ensure that the development of the policies and 
        procedures prescribed by the Paris Agreement achieve maximum 
        benefits for the United States; and
            (6) implement its commitments under the Paris Agreement and 
        the UNFCCC.
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