II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1335 To establish a Global Climate Change Resilience Strategy, to authorize the admission of climate-displaced persons, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 22, 2021 Mr. MARKEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To establish a Global Climate Change Resilience Strategy, to authorize the admission of climate-displaced persons, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 The table of contents for this Act is as follows: 4 Sec. 1. Table of contents. Sec. 2. Findings; sense of Congress. Sec. 3. Definitions. Sec. 4. Required data collection and reporting. Sec. 5. Global climate change resilience strategy. Sec. 6. Training of foreign service officers in climate change resilience. Sec. 7. Guidance on the humanitarian impacts of climate change. Sec. 8. Admission of climate-displaced persons. Sec. 9. Authorization of appropriations. VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S1335.IS S1335 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1335 IS SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 2 (1) According to the Intergovernmental Panel 3 on Climate Change, the Earth’s climate is now 4 changing faster than at any point in history. 5 (2) The October 2018 report entitled ‘‘Special 6 Report on Global Warming of 1.5o C’’ by the Inter- 7 governmental Panel on Climate Change and the No- 8 vember 2018 Fourth National Climate Assessment 9 report found that a changing climate is— 10 (A) causing sea levels to rise; 11 (B) contributing to an increase in wildfires 12 and temperature extremes in some parts of the 13 world; and 14 (C) contributing to an increase in heavy 15 precipitation in certain locations. 16 (3) Forced displacement and forced migration 17 are increasing in the context of environmental 18 changes and climate-induced disruptions, including 19 weather-related disasters, drought, famine, and ris- 20 ing sea levels. 21 (4) A December 2019 Oxfam International re- 22 port found that climate-related events forced an esti- 23 mated 20,000,000 people from their homes every 24 year during the previous decade. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1335.IS S1335 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1335 IS (5) The United Nations Human Rights Council 1 has recognized that climate change poses an existen- 2 tial threat that has already negatively affected the 3 fulfilment of human rights, specifically noting that— 4 (A) parties should, when taking action to 5 address climate change, respect, promote and 6 consider their respective obligations on human 7 rights; and 8 (B) the adverse effects of climate change 9 are felt most acutely by those segments of the 10 population that are already in vulnerable situa- 11 tions owing to factors such as geography, pov- 12 erty, gender, age, indigenous or minority status, 13 national or social origin, birth, or other status 14 and disability. 15 (6) The Office of the United Nations High 16 Commissioner for Human Rights has suggested that 17 a person who cannot be reasonably expected to re- 18 turn to his or her country of origin— 19 (A) should be considered a victim of forced 20 displacement; and 21 (B) should be granted at least a temporary 22 stay in the country where they have found ref- 23 uge. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1335.IS S1335 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1335 IS (7) The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 1 Change affirms with high confidence that societal 2 adaptations in the near term can help reduce the 3 risks of climate change throughout the 21st century. 4 (8) In 2013, Super Typhoon Haiyan made 5 landfall in the Philippines, affecting nearly 6 15,000,000 people and displacing more than 7 4,000,000 people. 8 (9) Since 2017, violence in Burma’s Rakhine 9 State has forced more than 740,000 Rohingya refu- 10 gees into Bangladesh, where they remain exposed to 11 the country’s vulnerability to the effects of extreme 12 flooding and landslides worsened by climate change. 13 (10) In 2020, extreme rainfall and flooding in 14 Northeast India’s Assam State displaced more than 15 3,300,000 people. 16 (11) The small Pacific island Nation of Kiribati 17 is preparing for large swaths of the country to be 18 uninhabitable and for its people to migrate with the 19 skill to integrate into their new host nation. 20 (12) More than 150,000,000 people around the 21 world now live on land that may be below sea level 22 or regular flood levels by the end of the century un- 23 less adaptation measures are taken. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1335.IS S1335 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1335 IS (13) The effects of climate change also exacer- 1 bate social, economic, and political tensions within 2 and among nations. 3 (14) A 2020 CARE report, ‘‘Evicted by Climate 4 Change: Confronting the Gendered Impacts of Cli- 5 mate-Induced Displacement’’, notes that— 6 (A) the climate crisis exacerbates gender 7 inequality and makes it harder to achieve gen- 8 der justice; 9 (B) more than half of the 41,000,000 peo- 10 ple internally displaced in 2018 were women; 11 (C) poor women and children are up to 14 12 times more likely to be killed than men by a cli- 13 mate-fueled disaster, such as a hurricane, ty- 14 phoon, cyclone, or flood; and 15 (D) women who are displaced by climate 16 change related impacts often have less access to 17 relief resources. 18 (15) In 2014, the Department of Defense 19 Quadrennial Defense Review cited the effects of cli- 20 mate change as a ‘‘threat multiplier’’ that could lead 21 to violence abroad. 22 (16) In 2016, a memorandum from the Na- 23 tional Intelligence Counsel entitled ‘‘Implications for 24 U.S. National Security of Anticipated Climate 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1335.IS S1335 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1335 IS Change’’ highlighted how climate change could cre- 1 ate or aggravate tensions between nations in already 2 disputed regions, such as the Arctic. 3 (17) The 2020 Ecological Threat Register pub- 4 lished by the Institute for Economics and Peace 5 projects that climate-related threats will continue to 6 cause significant displacement worldwide over the 7 coming decades. Nineteen countries, with a com- 8 bined population of 2,100,000,000 people, are noted 9 to be most at risk given population growth, water 10 stress, food insecurity, droughts, floods, cyclones and 11 rising temperature and sea levels. 12 (18) In February 2021, President Biden sig- 13 naled his intention to raise the United States ref- 14 ugee resettlement goal. 15 (19) In January 2021, President Biden issued 16 Executive Order 14008 on tackling the climate crisis 17 domestically and abroad. The order affirmed climate 18 considerations essential to United States foreign and 19 defense policy, reaffirmed the role of the Special 20 Envoy for Climate John Kerry, created a national 21 climate task force, and set timelines to produce 22 strategies and implementation plans for integrating 23 climate considerations into foreign policy efforts. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1335.IS S1335 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1335 IS (20) Previous presidential administrations have 1 not systematically and specifically acted to address 2 climate displacement or to provide appropriate dura- 3 ble solutions to those who are displaced. 4 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 5 gress that the United States should— 6 (1) reduce its domestic greenhouse gas emis- 7 sions on a scale and rate proportionate to its histor- 8 ical responsibility and the urgency of the threat of 9 climate change; 10 (2) welcome the shared responsibility of climate 11 change adaptation, global disaster risk reduction, re- 12 siliency building, and disaster response and recovery; 13 (3) assist in providing durable solutions for cli- 14 mate-displaced persons; 15 (4) aid other countries in their climate change 16 mitigation efforts; and 17 (5) work with the international community— 18 (A) to establish a framework to share such 19 responsibilities; and 20 (B) to ensure that the human rights of cli- 21 mate-displaced persons are acknowledged, re- 22 spected, protected, and fulfilled. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1335.IS S1335 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1335 IS SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 1 Section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality 2 Act (8 U.S.C. 1101(a)) is amended— 3 (1) by amending paragraph (8) to read as fol- 4 lows: 5 ‘‘(8) The term ‘climate-displaced person’ means any 6 person who, for reasons of sudden or progressive change 7 in the environment that adversely affects his or her life 8 or living conditions— 9 ‘‘(A) is obliged to leave his or her habitual 10 home, either within his or her country of nationality 11 or in another country; 12 ‘‘(B) is in need of a durable resettlement solu- 13 tion; and 14 ‘‘(C) whose government cannot or will not pro- 15 vide such durable resettlement solution.’’; and 16 (2) by amending paragraph (34) to read as fol- 17 lows: 18 ‘‘(34) The term ‘designated application center’ means 19 any United States embassy or consulate, or other facility 20 as the Secretary of State may delegate to accept applica- 21 tions for climate-displaced person status.’’. 22 SEC. 4. REQUIRED DATA COLLECTION AND REPORTING. 23 (a) DATA COLLECTION.—The President, in coordina- 24 tion with the Department of Commerce, the Environ- 25 mental Protection Agency, the Department of State, the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1335.IS S1335 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1335 IS United States Agency for International Development, the 1 Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Depart- 2 ment of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, 3 and other relevant agencies, shall collect and maintain 4 data on displacement caused by climate change, including 5 information from— 6 (1) the International Organization for Migra- 7 tion; 8 (2) the United Nations High Commissioner for 9 Refugees; 10 (3) UNICEF; and 11 (4) other international organizations that are 12 collecting such data. 13 (b) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 14 the date of the enactment of this Act, and annually there- 15 after, the President shall submit a report to the Senate 16 Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees 17 that details the collection and analysis of the data de- 18 scribed in subsection (a). The report required under this 19 subsection shall be submitted in unclassified form, but 20 may include a classified annex. 21 SEC. 5. GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE RESILIENCE STRATEGY. 22 Section 117 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 23 (22 U.S.C. 2151p) is amended— 24 (1) in subsection (b)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1335.IS S1335 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1335 IS (A) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ after ‘‘(b)’’; and 1 (B) by adding at the end the following: 2 ‘‘(2)(A) The President is authorized to furnish 3 assistance to programs and initiatives that— 4 ‘‘(i) promote resilience among communities 5 facing harmful impacts from climate change; 6 and 7 ‘‘(ii) reduce the vulnerability of persons af- 8 fected by climate change. 9 ‘‘(B) There shall be, in the Department of 10 State, a Coordinator of Climate Change Resilience, 11 who shall coordinate the assistance authorized under 12 this paragraph.’’; and 13 (2) by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(d)(1) The Secretary of State, in coordination with 15 the Administrator of the United States Agency for Inter- 16 national Development and the Special Presidential Envoy 17 for Climate, shall establish a comprehensive, integrated, 18 10-year strategy, which shall be referred to as the ‘Global 19 Climate Change Resilience Strategy’, to mitigate the im- 20 pacts of climate change on displacement and humanitarian 21 emergencies. 22 ‘‘(2) The Global Climate Change Resilience Strategy 23 shall— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1335.IS S1335 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 1335 IS ‘‘(A) focus on addressing slow-onset and rapid- 1 onset effects of events caused by climate change; 2 ‘‘(B) consider the effects of events caused by 3 climate change; 4 ‘‘(C) describe the key features of successful 5 strategies to prevent such conditions; 6 ‘‘(D) include specific objectives and multisec- 7 toral approaches to the effects of events caused by 8 climate change; 9 ‘‘(E) describe approaches that ensure national 10 leadership, as appropriate, and substantively engage 11 with civil society, local partners, and the affected 12 communities, including marginalized populations and 13 underserved populations, in the design, implementa- 14 tion, and monitoring of climate change programs to 15 best safeguard the future of those subject to dis- 16 placement; 17 ‘‘(F) assign roles for relevant Federal agencies 18 to avoid duplication of efforts, while ensuring that— 19 ‘‘(i) the Department of State is responsible 20 for— 21 ‘‘(I) leading the Global Climate 22 Change Resilience Strategy; 23 ‘‘(II) establishing United States for- 24 eign policy; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1335.IS S1335 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 1335 IS ‘‘(III) advancing diplomatic and polit- 1 ical efforts; 2 ‘‘(IV) guiding security assistance and 3 related civilian security efforts to mitigate 4 climate change threats; and 5 ‘‘(V) providing overseas humanitarian 6 assistance to respond to international dis- 7 placement caused by climate change and to 8 coordinate the pursuit of protection and 9 durable solutions for climate-displaced per- 10 sons, including resettlement into the 11 United States; 12 ‘‘(ii) the United States Agency for Inter- 13 national Development is— 14 ‘‘(I) responsible for overseeing pro- 15 grams to prevent the effects of events 16 caused by climate change; and 17 ‘‘(II) the lead implementing agency 18 for providing overseas humanit [Text truncated for display. 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