Sec. 4. Definitions

887 words·~4 min read·/bill/117/s/1201/is/section-4

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In this Act: The term appropriate congressional committees means— the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate ; the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate ; the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives ; and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives . The term clean energy means— renewable energy and energy from systems; energy production processes that emit zero greenhouse gas emissions, including nuclear power; systems and processes that capture and permanently store greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel production and electricity generation units; products, processes, facilities, or systems designed to retrofit and improve the energy efficiency and electricity generated from electrical generation units, while using less fuel, less or fewer power production resources, or less feedstocks; and zero emission vehicles.

The term climate action means enhanced efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate-induced impacts, including— climate-related hazards in all countries; integrating climate change measures into national policies, strategies and planning; and improving education, awareness-raising, and human and institutional capacity with respect to climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction, and early warning. The term climate crisis means the social, economic, health, safety, and security impacts on people, and the threats to biodiversity and natural ecosystem health, which are attributable to the wide-variety of effects on global environmental and atmospheric conditions as a result of disruptions to the Earth’s climate from anthropogenic activities that generate greenhouse gas emissions or reduce natural resource capacities to absorb and regulate atmospheric carbon.

The term climate diplomacy means methods of influencing the decisions and behavior of foreign governments and peoples through dialogue, negotiation, cooperation and other measures short of war or violence around issues related to addressing global climate change, including— the mitigation of global greenhouse gas emissions; discussion, analysis, and sharing of scientific data and information on the cause and effects of climate change; the security, social, economic, and political instability risks associated with the effects of climate change; economic cooperation efforts and trade matters that are related to or associated with climate change and greenhouse gas mitigation from the global economy; building resilience capacities and adapting to the effects of change; sustainable land use and natural resource conservation; accounting for loss and damage attributed to the effects of climate change; just transition of carbon intense economies to low or zero carbon economies and accounting for laborers within affected economies; and technological innovations that reduce or eliminate carbon emissions.

The term climate security means the effects of climate change on— United States national security concerns and subnational, national, and regional political stability; and overseas security and conflict situations that are potentially exacerbated by dynamic environmental factors and events, including— the intensification and frequency of droughts, floods, wildfires, tropical storms, and other extreme weather events; changes in historical severe weather, drought, and wildfire patterns; the expansion of geographical ranges of droughts, floods, and wildfires into regions that had not regularly experienced such phenomena; global sea level rise patterns and the expansion of geographical ranges affected by drought; and changes in marine environments that effect critical geostrategic waterways, such as the Arctic Ocean, the South China Sea, the South Pacific Ocean, the Barents Sea, and the Beaufort Sea.

The term nationally determined contribution means a country’s pledged efforts to reduce national greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change, which may include a financial pledge of support or financing to assist developing countries achieve their climate action goals, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 4 of the Paris Agreement, which requires each Party— to prepare, communicate and maintain successive nationally determined contributions that it intends to achieve ; and to pursue domestic mitigation measures, with the aim of achieving the objectives of such contributions .

The term natural climate solutions mean actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems that— address climate change effectively and adaptively; and simultaneously provide human well-being and environmental benefits. The term natural resources means the terrestrial, freshwater, estuarine, and marine fish, wildlife, plants, land, air, water, habitats, and ecosystems. The term net zero greenhouse gas emissions means that any anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are balanced or offset by deliberate activities that absorb or capture and permanently store equivalent amounts of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

The term Paris Agreement means the international agreement adopted by parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s 21st Conference of Parties in Paris, France on December 12, 2015. The term renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from sources that naturally occur or are replenished in nature in a sustainable manner, including bioenergy, geothermal energy, hydropower, ocean energy, solar energy, and wind energy. The term resilience means the ability of human made and natural systems (including their component parts) to anticipate, absorb, cope, accommodate, or recover from the effects of a hazardous event in a timely and efficient manner, including through ensuring the preservation, restoration, or improvement of its essential basic structures and functions.

The term UNFCCC means the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, done at New York May 9, 1992, and entered into force March 21, 1994. The terms United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and USMCA mean the Agreement between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and Canada, done at Buenos Aires November 30, 2018.