(Sierra Club) “Make Polluters Pay for Climate Disasters!
From deadly heat waves to raging fires to devastating floods, fossil fuel pollution is fueling extreme weather that endangers lives, destabilizes ecosystems and communities, and costs billions of dollars per year. Families nationwide are left with higher insurance costs, rising food prices, and mounting health bills, all while Big Oil rakes in record profits and pays nothing for the damage they’ve caused.
It doesn’t have to be this way: The Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act in Congress, introduced by Representatives Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Judy Chu (D-CA) would require oil and gas companies to contribute just a fraction of their profits to a federal Climate Superfund. That funding would go directly to rebuilding communities, protecting frontline neighborhoods, and preparing for future disasters.”
Action Call: It’s time to put people over polluter profits. Tell Congress to act now!
- S.25 – Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act of 2025
- Cosponsors: Neither Senator Padilla, nor Senator Schiff have signed on! CALL THEM!
- H.R.1135 – Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act of 2025
- Cosponsors: Neither Congressmembers Brownley nor Carbajal have signed on! CALL THEM!
Minimum script for representatives: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want [Congressman/woman_____] to cosponsor and promote the H.R.1135 – Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act of 2025. States like Vermont and New York have already passed their own versions of this bill! Now it’s time for Congress to act.
Minimum script for senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want [Senator_____] to cosponsor and promote the S.25 – Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act of 2025. States like Vermont and New York have already passed their own versions of this bill! Now it’s time for Congress to act.
Contacts:
- Rep. Julia Brownley: email, (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779
- or Rep. Salud Carbajal: email.(CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB & Ventura: (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348
- Senator Adam Schiff: email, DC (202) 224-3121, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
- and Senator Padilla: email, DC (202) 224-3553, LA (310) 231-4494, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 981-9369, SD (619) 239-3884
- Who is my representative/senator?: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
Deeper Dive
“This bill is sponsored in the Senate by Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD and cosponsored by Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
“For more than 60 years, the fossil fuel industry has known about its significant role in driving the climate crisis. Yet, it has largely failed to take meaningful action to mitigate the harmful impacts of its practices on the environment and public health,” said Representative Jerrold Nadler. “Instead, the burden of addressing the destructive effects of the climate crisis has fallen unfairly on American taxpayers. It’s long overdue for our nation to put the health and well-being of our communities above the interests of the fossil fuel industry. That’s why I’m proud to reintroduce the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act alongside Senator Van Hollen and Representative Chu—to ensure the fossil fuel industry is held accountable for the damage it has caused and to empower the American people to confront this crisis directly.”
“Last month, a series of unprecedented firestorms fueled by 100 mph winds devastated communities across Southern California following another year of record-breaking dry conditions,” said Rep. Judy Chu. “Across Altadena and northern Pasadena in my district, the Eaton Fire destroyed over 9,500 structures, left 20,000 people homeless, and tragically took at least 17 lives. The climate crisis is here, and fossil fuel corporations responsible for worsening the climate crisis continue reaping massive profits while assuming none of the cost for the harmful emissions they produce, leaving taxpayers on the hook to pay the price. It’s far past time for these corporations to pay their fair share and help fund our work to address the climate catastrophe they helped create, so we’re introducing the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act to hold them accountable.”
“In Maryland and across the country, we are witnessing the accelerating costs of climate change – from rising seas to devastating flooding to more powerful hurricanes – and for too long American taxpayers have been footing the bill. It’s time that the biggest companies fueling the climate crisis address the harm they have caused. This legislation puts a simple but very powerful principle into action: big polluters should pay to clean up the mess they have made, and those who have polluted the most should pay the most,” said Senator Van Hollen.
The Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act is endorsed by a wide range of conservation and environmental justice organizations: 198 Methods; 350.org and 350 Bay Area Action, 350 Conejo / San Fernando Valley, 350 Mass, 350 Seattle, and 350Brooklyn; Action for the Climate Emergency; Alliance of Maine Health Professionals for Climate Action; Better Future Project; Bold Alliance; California Environmental Voters; CASA; Center for Biological Diversity; Center for Popular Democracy / CPDAction; Chesapeake Climate Action Network; Clean Water Action; Climate Accountability Institute; Climate Action California; Climate Hawks Vote; Climate Policy Equity Center; Concerned Health Professionals of PA; Earthjustice; Elders Climate Action (ECA) Northern California (NorCal) Chapter; Elders Climate Action (ECA) Southern California (SoCal) Chapter; Environmental Advocates NY; Evergreen Action; Food & Water Watch; Gen-Z for Change; Greenpeace USA; Human Impact Partners; League of Conservation Voters and Maine Conservation Voters, NC League of Conservation Voters, and New Jersey League of Conservation Voters; MoveOn; New York Communities for Change; NY Public Interest Research Group; Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund (OEC Action Fund); Oil and Gas Action Network; Oxfam America; Physicians for Social Responsibility; Physicians for Social Responsibility Maine; San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility; Sierra Club; South Seattle Climate Action Network; Sunrise Movement; Surfrider Foundation; Sustainable Mill Valley; Texas Physicians for Social Responsibility; The Rachel Carson Council; Third Act and Third Act Maryland, Third Act Upstate New York, and Third Act Virginia; Union of Concerned Scientists; Vermont Natural Resources Council; Vermont Public Interest Research Group; Vessel Project of Louisiana; Voices for Progress; Waterkeeper Alliance; Working Families Party; and Zero Hour.
Background on the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act
For over 60 years, fossil fuel companies have been fully aware of – and profited from – their industry’s contributions to climate change, and despite this knowledge took little to no action to remediate the negative environmental and human health impacts of their business practices. Now, climate change related extreme weather events cost the United States at least $150 billion each year and these impacts are disproportionately borne by underserved and overburdened communities.
The concept of Polluters Pay is simple: those most responsible for creating the climate crisis should pay the most to address its harmful impacts. Modeled after the Superfund law, the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act would allow the U.S. to generate significant revenue – $1 trillion – to address our climate challenges by turning to the industry that caused them. The legislation requires the largest polluters to pay into a Polluters Pay Fund, contributing based on a proportion of the companies’ prior emissions.
Using peer-reviewed “carbon attribution” research, it is possible to definitively attribute carbon in the atmosphere to specific companies. The Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act would assess companies based on their global carbon dioxide emissions and authorizes the Treasury Department to charge the largest polluters in proportion to their past carbon emissions, in excess of 1 billion metric tons – resulting in the top polluters contributing $100 billion each year for 10 years to the Fund. The legislation applies to any fossil fuel extractor or refiner that is U.S.-based, or is a foreign company engaged in trade or business in the U.S., and is responsible for generating over 1 billion tons of carbon dioxide emissions from 2000-2023.
The fund would be used to combat the impacts of climate change in a variety of ways, such as rebuilding and upgrading infrastructure, cleaning up the impacts of pollution in frontline communities, and providing climate-related disaster assistance. Forty percent of the fund would be set aside for investments that benefit environmental justice communities.
No Impact on Energy Costs: The Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act would not raise costs for consumers. The market price of gasoline is determined by supply and demand. The fund would not affect the demand for gasoline, which is based on consumer preferences and other factors like the overall state of the economy. The fund would also not affect the supply of gasoline. The tax assessment is based on past, not current, activity, so it does not impact the ongoing costs of production. It is charged only to those with the highest past production, leaving some companies that are not subject to the assessment to act as price competitors and rivals for market share. Collusion by covered companies to raise prices would be illegal under antitrust laws.
No Impact on State and Local Climate Lawsuits and Climate Superfunds: The Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act is not a substitute for or designed to preempt local- or state-level climate lawsuits seeking to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for deception about the causes and consequences of climate change. Nor does it preempt state-level climate superfund laws aimed at recouping damages from climate change.
The full text of the bill is available here. A two-pager on the bill is available here.
Read the entire piece here: https://nadler.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=396266
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