This legislative ask is designed to be shared with your members of Congress and their staff.
The world is facing increasing shocks from a rapidly changing climate. These impacts fall hardest on countries in the Global South, where rising seas, prolonged droughts, devastating floods, and biodiversity loss are compounding existing global challenges.
These emergent shocks serve as a force multiplier deepening pre-existing crises such as food security – exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and the mounting debt burdens faced by developing nations resulting from global economic uncertainty.
For centuries, Quakers have sought to “take away the occasion of all wars.” As resource scarcity increases the risk of conflict, international climate finance is a vital tool for reducing suffering, preventing violence, and caring for all of God’s creation. By addressing the root causes of instability, this funding also aligns with the national security interests of the United States – preventing the onset of further “forever wars.” In Somalia, for example, U.S. food security and resilience funding has helped reduce al-Shabaab recruitment by building
resilience to increasingly frequent and severe droughts in the Horn of Africa.
Support our global neighbors by fully funding international climate finance
We urge Congress to robustly support international climate finance in the Fiscal Year 2026 State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPs) appropriations bill. This includes funding no less than the following for bilateral development accounts:
- $247 million for Renewable Energy. Programs that aim to reduce greenhouse gas pollution from energy generation and use by accelerating the deployment of clean energy technologies, policies, and practices.
- $176 million for Sustainable Landscapes. Programs that aim to reduce greenhouse gas pollution from deforestation and land degradation.
- $270 million for Adaptation. Programs that aim to assist low-income countries with reducing their vulnerability to climate change impacts like hunger, intensified conflict, and increased poverty by building climate resilience in communities.
As one the largest historic emitters of greenhouse gases, the United States has both a moral responsibility and a strategic interest in supporting countries facing the harshest impacts of a changing climate, preventing the outbreak of conflict that could drive terrorism, mass displacement, and instability in countless regions of the world.
Contact: Daren Caughron, Legislative Manager, Sustainable Energy & Environment Program, dcaughron@fcnl.org