H.R. 6185 — Targeting Environmental and Climate Recklessness Act of 2025

This section sets forth 13 congressional findings on the impacts of climate change (e.g., severe weather, wildfires, droughts, flooding, and public health threats expected to intensify with warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius); the need for global economic reforms to limit warming, reduce emissions and deforestation, and adapt; risks from activities such as new coal plants and illegal Amazon deforestation linked to criminal networks and human rights abuses; the role of collective international action under the Paris Agreement; and the potential use of U.S. financial system restrictions to address climate-related harms, analogous to measures against terrorism, corruption, and other threats.

This section expresses the sense of Congress that (1) the targeted measures in this Act are only one component of a comprehensive approach to addressing climate change; (2) the U.S. government must ensure through law and regulation that U.S. entities are not engaged in or complicit in behaviors targeted against foreign persons under this Act; (3) the U.S. government should scale international climate finance to more than $11,000,000,000 annually and promote global adaptation and mitigation efforts; (4) the U.S. government must proactively work with foreign governments, including through positive incentives, to address climate change and promote low-carbon economic development; (5) the targeted measures in this Act should be used if engagement fails to prevent significant climate-exacerbating actions; and (6) the Secretary of State should encourage other countries to adopt similar targeted measures, with support from the Secretary of the Treasury.

This section states the policy of the United States to consider using authorities under Executive Order 13818 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; i.e., Global Magnitsky sanctions blocking property of persons involved in serious human rights abuse or corruption) in relation to activities described in section 5(b), including acts of corruption and serious human rights abuses against specified individuals. Those individuals include persons who (1) advocate for protection of the environment, public health, Indigenous rights, or community land rights; (2) investigate, expose, or raise awareness of harm or corruption related to natural resource use; or (3) are displaced from their habitual home due to sudden or progressive environmental changes caused by human activities or attributable to climate change that adversely affect their life or living conditions.

This section authorizes the President to impose sanctions on any foreign person determined, based on credible information, to have knowingly, recklessly, or willfully engaged in specified activities in a foreign country that exacerbate climate change (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions inconsistent with IPCC 1.5 degrees Celsius pathways or undermining low-carbon projects), contribute to illegal deforestation or loss of carbon sinks, misrepresent environmental impacts, limit opposition to such activities by environmental defenders, or be responsible for, complicit in, acting on behalf of, materially assisting, or owned/controlled by persons engaging in such activities (including certain government officials). Sanctions include (1) visa ineligibility or revocation for individuals; (2) blocking of all property and interests in property under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (without requiring a national emergency declaration); or (3) any sanctions described in section 235 of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (22 U.S.C. 9529), such as directing the Export-Import Bank not to approve export financing to the sanctioned person, prohibiting certain U.S. export licenses, banning U.S. financial institution loans exceeding $10 million in any 12-month period (unless for human suffering relief), opposing international financial institution loans benefiting the person, or prohibiting designated financial institutions from serving as primary dealers in U.S. government debt or as U.S. government fund repositories. In determining whether to impose sanctions, the President must consider information from congressional leaders and credible reports from other countries or NGOs monitoring environmental harm or human rights violations. Exceptions apply to U.S. intelligence and law enforcement activities and UN headquarters obligations.

This section authorizes appropriations to the Secretary of the Treasury, as necessary, for the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to support targeting of persons under this Act and to enhance OFAC's ability to target persons for sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (i.e., authority to impose sanctions on foreign persons responsible for significant corruption or human rights abuses).