H.R. 3245 (117^th): Targeting Environmental and Climate Recklessness Act of 2021

Climate change is imposing significant damage on communities in the United States and abroad in the form of severe weather events, wildfires, heat waves, droughts, flooding, ocean acidification, and other threats to public health and safety. Scientists expect these effects to grow in frequency and intensity in the coming decades. Low-income communities and communities of color bear a disproportionate impact of climate-related damages.

Collectively, the international community needs to limit global warming to under 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. Under the current trajectory, the world will fail to meet this target and will experience warming that exceeds 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. In many regions of the world, warming of average temperatures has already surpassed 3 degrees Fahrenheit.

To limit global warming to under 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the world needs to reach net-zero global emissions by 2050, which will require making drastic reforms to global economic systems to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, reduce deforestation, reduce dependency on coal, adapt to unavoidable changes in the climate, and ensure a just transition.

The goals articulated in the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement depend on collective action involving the entire international community. Progress made by one economic actor can be reduced or cancelled out if another economic actor emits significant greenhouse gas emissions into the Earth’s atmosphere.

Coal produces the highest intensity of greenhouse gas emissions of any fuel source. The International Energy Agency estimates that coal is responsible for nearly 1/3 of global warming. The United Nations Secretary General has repeatedly urged countries to stop financing coal and to pledge not to build new coal-fired power plants.

Subcritical coal-fired power plants continue to be developed, especially in Southeast Asia and as part of the Belt and Road Initiative of the People's Republic of China, despite broad awareness of the dangers and the growing availability of economically superior alternatives. Additionally, coal mining is frequently associated with a wide range of human rights abuses, such as forced evictions and land grabbing, water and air pollution, and violations of the rights of indigenous people and workers.

Alternatives to carbon-intensive electrical power generation are now available and technological advancements continue to strengthen the economic competitiveness of such alternatives.

Internationally, several economic actors continue to pursue activities, such as development of new subcritical coal-fired power plants and deforestation that contribute to dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to carrying a significant climate risk, many of these activities are associated with serious human rights abuses, acts of corruption, and environmental injustice against Indigenous communities, communities of color, and other communities that have historically faced marginalization and discrimination.

The United States Government has developed and implements targeted measures to restrict access to the United States financial system for specific individuals and entities whose actions threaten or run counter to United States national interests. The United States Government has deployed these measures in response to terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, transnational organized crime, narcotics trafficking, malicious cyber-enabled activity, wildlife trafficking, serious human rights abuses, and acts of corruption. While President Joseph R. Biden has further centered climate solutions in foreign policy, as of the date of the enactment of this Act, the United States Government has not used these measures to target and deter reckless, climate-destroying behavior.

President Biden has indicated that combating the climate crisis is a top domestic and foreign policy priority and has taken steps including the creation of a Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, collaborating with other countries to establish worldwide solutions and reduce the impact of climate change, striving to achieve a net-zero economy in the United States by 2050, producing a plan to end international financing for fossil fuel projects, and emphasizing the need of pursuing an entirely clean energy economy.

President Biden has made it a priority to counter environmental injustices in the United States and abroad, and plans on implementing community-led approaches as well as Federal protections and regulations that will support those community members whose land and health have been negatively impacted by climate change.

The climate crisis has led to a surge of civic engagement, activism, and protests across the world. At the same time, reprisals against environmental defenders are on the rise. Front Line Defenders reported that of the 331 human rights defenders killed for their work in 2020, 69 percent were killed for speaking up about Indigenous, land, or environmental rights. In 2020, Global Witness reported than an average of 4 environmental defenders had been killed every week since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed in December 2015. Thousands of other environmental defenders are targeted each year with reprisals in the form of enforced disappearances, torture, sexual violence, criminalization, and smear campaigns.

As a result of corruption and illegally issued permits for forest clearance, only approximately 50 percent of tropical forest destruction is defined as illegal under local country laws. Critically, violations of land rights and the free, prior, and informed consent and rights of Indigenous people can be overlooked if the only criterion applied is legality.

Illegal deforestation is a significant driver of the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Criminal networks with the capacity to coordinate large-scale extraction, processing, and sale of timber deploy armed personnel to protect their interests. Those criminal networks regularly attack and threaten members of Indigenous communities, enforcement officials, and other environmental defenders. Perpetrators of such violence are rarely brought to justice.

Policies and measures to address climate change must also promote human rights, thereby advancing equality, justice, and dignity for all, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.

the targeted measures described in this Act are only one component of the comprehensive approach needed to address climate change and mitigate its effects;

the United States Government must ensure through law and regulation that entities in the United States are not engaged in or complicit in any of the egregious behaviors for which foreign persons may be targeted under this Act;

the United States Government must fulfill its pledges to the Green Climate Fund and promote international efforts to support climate change adaptation and mitigation;

the United States Government must work proactively with foreign governments, including by offering positive incentives, to address climate change and to promote economic development in ways that do not needlessly increase carbon emissions or increase the risk of corruption;

the targeted measures described in this Act should be employed if engagement has failed to prevent significant actions that exacerbate climate change; and

given broad international support for countering climate change, the Secretary of State should encourage the governments of other countries to implement targeted measures that are similar to the provisions of this Act, and the Secretary of the Treasury should support implementation of such measures, in order to increase the effectiveness of actions taken by the United States to combat significant actions that exacerbate climate change, including related corruption and human rights violations.

the United States Government should continue to hold the People's Republic of China accountable for its human rights abuses, violations of international law, coercive and unfair economic practices, and military aggression, and should do so while also pursuing opportunities to cooperatively address the existential threat of climate change;

the United States Government should encourage the People’s Republic of China to follow through on its stated intentions to reduce the negative environmental impacts of Chinese foreign investment, including investments provided through the Belt and Road Initiative;

the United States Government should negotiate a binding agreement to end fossil fuel subsidies with major economies including the People’s Republic of China;

the United States Government should build on the successes of existing engagement with the People’s Republic of China through the United States-China Clean Energy Research Center and other initiatives to launch new cooperative efforts;

the United States Government should engage in expanded dialogue with the People’s Republic of China to ensure that development finance institutions do not undermine global decarbonization efforts; and

the United States Government should work with the People’s Republic of China to develop and adopt safeguards to promote low-carbon, climate-resilient investments over high-carbon, climate risk-inducing investments, particularly in emerging and developing economies in the Indo-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America.