Green Climate Fund Authorization Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2774 To authorize appropriations for climate financing, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 22, 2021 Mr. ESPAILLAT (for himself, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. BUSH, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. CART- WRIGHT, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. HUFFMAN, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. NORTON, Mr. PHILLIPS, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. TITUS, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. CASE, and Mr. JONES) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on For- eign Affairs A BILL To authorize appropriations for climate financing, 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. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Green Climate Fund 4 Authorization Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds that— 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2774 IH (1) climate change most severely impacts vul- 1 nerable and disadvantaged communities in the 2 United States and around the world; 3 (2) it is the responsibility of the United States 4 Government to work with its global partners to pro- 5 mote environmental justice and climate justice; 6 (3) the report of the United Nations Environ- 7 ment Programme entitled ‘‘Climate Change and the 8 Cost of Capital in Developing Countries’’, dated May 9 2018, found that, in the 10 years prior to the publi- 10 cation of the report, climate vulnerability has cost 11 the 20 nations most affected by catastrophes rooted 12 in climate change an additional $62,000,000,000 in 13 interest payments alone; 14 (4) individuals and families, particularly com- 15 munities of color, indigenous communities, and low- 16 income communities, that are on the frontlines of 17 climate change across the globe are often in close 18 proximity to environmental stressors or sources of 19 pollution; 20 (5) the communities described in paragraph 21 (4)— 22 (A) are often the first exposed to the 23 causes and impacts of climate change; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2774 IH (B) have the fewest resources with which 1 to mitigate those impacts or to relocate; 2 (6) all efforts to adapt to and mitigate climate 3 change must include specific protections for and ac- 4 knowledgment of the harm of climate change to 5 communities of color, indigenous peoples, women, 6 and other frontline communities and marginalized 7 peoples around the world; 8 (7) in Paris, on December 12, 2015, the parties 9 to the United Nations Framework Convention on 10 Climate Change adopted the Paris Agreement, a 11 benchmark agreement— 12 (A) to combat climate change; and 13 (B) to accelerate and intensify the actions 14 and investments needed for a sustainable low 15 carbon future; 16 (8) the Paris Agreement, to which the United 17 States is a party, acknowledges, ‘‘Parties should, 18 when taking action to address climate change, re- 19 spect, promote and consider their respective obliga- 20 tions on human rights, the right to health, the rights 21 of indigenous peoples, local communities, migrants, 22 children, persons with disabilities and people in vul- 23 nerable situations and the right to development, as 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2774 IH well as gender equality, empowerment of women and 1 intergenerational equity’’; 2 (9) the Paris Agreement— 3 (A) notes the importance of ‘‘climate jus- 4 tice’’ when mitigating and adapting to climate 5 change; and 6 (B) recognizes ‘‘the need for an effective 7 and progressive response to the urgent threat of 8 climate change’’; 9 (10) it is imperative for all countries to under- 10 take mitigation activities to rapidly meet the goal of 11 limiting global warming to not more than 1.5 de- 12 grees Celsius; 13 (11) developed countries have the greatest ca- 14 pacity to mitigate their greenhouse gas emissions, 15 while— 16 (A) developing countries have the least ca- 17 pacity to engage in mitigation activities; and 18 (B) the capacity of developing countries to 19 engage in mitigation activities is less than the 20 national mitigation potential of those developing 21 countries; 22 (12) the determination for the fair share of 23 mitigation and adaptation activities for each country 24 must take into account— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2774 IH (A) the historic greenhouse gas emissions 1 of each country; and 2 (B) the current capacity of each country to 3 both mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and 4 adapt to climate impacts; 5 (13) developed countries that have historically 6 emitted a disproportionately high share of green- 7 house gas emissions, and reaped the economic bene- 8 fits of those polluting activities, have a cor- 9 responding disproportionately greater responsibility 10 to engage in global mitigation and adaptation activi- 11 ties, as compared to less industrialized countries 12 that have historically polluted far less; 13 (14) the only realistic way for less industri- 14 alized countries to meet their full mitigation poten- 15 tial is through international climate financing by 16 more developed countries; 17 (15) in the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, developed 18 countries committed to jointly mobilize, starting in 19 2020, $100,000,000,000 per year in public climate 20 financing (as well as private investment and other 21 alternative forms of finance), for developing coun- 22 tries, a commitment reaffirmed in 2015 in Decision 23 1/CP.21 of the United Nations Framework Conven- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2774 IH tion on Climate Change, Adoption of the Paris 1 Agreement; 2 (16) the $100,000,000,000 commitment de- 3 scribed in paragraph (15) was a political com- 4 promise that falls short of the actual financing needs 5 for climate action in developing countries; 6 (17) Bloomberg New Energy Finance has esti- 7 mated that the transition to renewable energy 8 sources in developing countries will require hundreds 9 of billions of dollars annually; 10 (18) the United Nations Environment Pro- 11 gramme has estimated that adaptation needs relat- 12 ing to climate change in developing countries may be 13 as much as $300,000,000,000 annually by 2030; 14 (19) the Green Climate Fund was created in 15 2010 by 194 countries to serve as a crucial financ- 16 ing mechanism to help developing countries limit or 17 reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to cli- 18 mate change; 19 (20) in 2015, the United Nations Framework 20 Convention on Climate Change agreed that the 21 Green Climate Fund should serve the goals of the 22 Paris Agreement, which states that ‘‘developed coun- 23 try Parties shall provide financial resources to assist 24 developing country Parties with respect to both miti- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2774 IH gation and adaptation in continuation of their exist- 1 ing obligations under the Convention’’; 2 (21) the Green Climate Fund is an essential in- 3 stitution for climate financing, as the Green Climate 4 Fund ensures— 5 (A) balanced governance between developed 6 and developing countries; 7 (B) stakeholder engagement and discourse; 8 (C) a balanced approach between mitiga- 9 tion and adaptation; 10 (D) fair and equal labor and working con- 11 ditions; 12 (E) conservation of biodiversity and critical 13 habitats; and 14 (F) strong environmental, social, and gen- 15 der protections; 16 (22) the Green Climate Fund— 17 (A) promotes and protects human rights 18 and the rights of marginalized groups, including 19 indigenous peoples, women, children, and people 20 with disabilities; and 21 (B) continues to take steps to strengthen 22 protection for marginalized groups; 23 (23) the United States committed 24 $3,000,000,000 of the first $10,000,000,000 raised 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2774 IH for the initial resource mobilization period of the 1 Green Climate Fund, though only 1⁄3 of this pledge 2 was fulfilled, leaving the United States the only 3 country to fall substantially short of a commitment 4 of a country to the Green Climate Fund; 5 (24) pledges for the first replenishment period 6 of the Green Climate Fund (‘‘GCF–1’’), covering the 7 years 2020–2023, totaled $9.9 billion, without any 8 participation from the United States; 9 (25) almost all major contributors doubled the 10 amount of their contribution from the initial re- 11 source mobilization phase for the GCF–1 replenish- 12 ment; and 13 (26) the Green Climate Fund is a fully oper- 14 ational and proven institution supporting nearly 200 15 projects and programs in developing countries 16 around the world with a total value of $30.2 billion 17 including co-financing. 18 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 19 It is the policy of the United States to provide climate 20 financing— 21 (1) as an essential part of the global effort to 22 combat climate change; and 23 (2) that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2774 IH (A) upholds the principles of environmental 1 justice and climate justice; 2 (B) supports programs and projects devel- 3 oped by recipient countries and communities; 4 (C) is designed and implemented with the 5 free, prior, and informed consent of indigenous 6 peoples and other impacted communities; 7 (D) promotes gender equality as essential 8 in all of the projects and programs supported 9 by climate financing; 10 (E) includes best practices for environ- 11 mental and social safeguards to ensure that 12 projects and programs supported by climate fi- 13 nancing respect fundamental human rights; and 14 (F) addresses both mitigation and adapta- 15 tion as essential aspects of responding to cli- 16 mate change. 17 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 18 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro- 19 priated for contributions to the Green Climate Fund 20 $4,000,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2022 and 21 2023. 22 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 23 gress that the climate financing needs to achieve the 24 greenhouse gas emissions reductions required to keep the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2774 IH planet at or below 1.5 degrees Celsius of global warming 1 are significantly greater than the amount of funds author- 2 ized to be appropriated under subsection (a). 3 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 4 In this Act: 5 (1) CLIMATE FINANCING.—The term ‘‘climate 6 financing’’ means the transfer of new and additional 7 public funds from developed countries to developing 8 countries for projects and programs that— 9 (A) reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas 10 emissions; 11 (B) enhance and restore natural carbon se- 12 questration; and 13 (C) promote adaptation to climate change. 14 (2) GREEN CLIMATE FUND.—The term ‘‘Green 15 Climate Fund’’ means the independent, multilateral 16 fund— 17 (A) established by parties to the United 18 Nations Framework Convention on Climate 19 Change; and 20 (B) adopted by decision as part of the fi- 21 nancial mechanism of the United Nations 22 Framework Convention on Climate Change. 23 (3) PARIS AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘Paris 24 Agreement’’ means the annex to Decision 1/CP.21 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2774 IH adopted by the 21st Conference of Parties of the 1 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 2 Change in Paris, France, on December 12, 2015. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Jun 15, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2774.IH H2774 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS