119-hr4485

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4485 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 4485

 To establish an advisory panel to study the development of a climate-
 friendly certification for agricultural products, and for other 
 purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 July 17, 2025

 Ms. Brownley introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To establish an advisory panel to study the development of a climate-
 friendly certification for agricultural products, and for other 
 purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Climate-Friendly Food Label Task 
Force Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds the following:

    (1) 10 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions emitted by 
 the United States come from the agricultural sector.

    (2) Sustainable agricultural practices that reduce 
 greenhouse gas emissions and prevent deforestation will be 
 critical to preventing the Earth from reaching 1.5 degrees 
 Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels, the threshold that 
 would result in catastrophic climate-related effects.

    (3) Improving the agricultural sector's impact on the 
 climate is a vital component of efforts by the U.S. to meet its 
 contributions to the Paris Agreement.

    (4) The USDA Organic label represents a successful model 
 for using a voluntary, market-based approaches to driving 
 innovation in the agricultural sector and successfully created 
 a robust organic market in the United States.

    (5) Market-based approaches like USDA Organic can spark 
 significant economic benefits including jobs, and new, higher 
 revenues for farmers.

    (6) In 2021, organic farming totaled $11,200,000,000 in 
 sales, created opportunity for 17,445 organic farms, and 28 
 percent of organic farmers planned to continue to grow their 
 level or organic production. A similar voluntary, market-based 
 approach to climate-friendly agricultural practices could 
 create comparable economic benefits for farmers and workers.

SEC. 3. STUDY OF CLIMATE-FRIENDLY CERTIFICATION FOR AGRICULTURAL 
 PRODUCTS.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established an advisory panel to carry 
out the study described in subsection
            (c) .

    (b) Members.--The advisory panel established under subsection

    (a) shall be composed of members appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture 
and shall include--

    (1) representatives--
        (A) that are scientists, including experts on 
 climate science and nutrition science;
        (B) of environmental advocacy organizations;
            (C) of industry, including food manufacturing and 
 farming; and
            (D) of other stakeholders, as the Secretary of 
 Agriculture determines appropriate; and

    (2) at least one representative from each of the following:
        (A) The Department of Agriculture.
        (B) The Environmental Protection Agency.
            (C) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
            (D) The Food and Drug Administration.
        (E) The National Academy of Sciences.
        (F) Any other Federal agency the Secretary of 
 Agriculture determines appropriate.
            (c) Report Required.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the panel shall submit to the Secretary of 
Agriculture and Congress a report that includes--

    (1) recommendations regarding the development of a climate-
 friendly certification for agricultural products that--
        (A) moves agricultural producers toward reducing 
 greenhouse gas emissions on a lifecycle basis; and
        (B) uses market-based approaches that allows for 
 greater consumer choice and education; and

    (2) how such a certification would measure--
        (A) the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of 
 agricultural products;
        (B) the water usage in production of agricultural 
 products;
            (C) the land use effects of agricultural products; 
 and
            (D) any additional criteria the panel determines 
 appropriate.
            (d) Publication.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall make the 
report required under subsection
            (c) publicly available on the website 
of the Department of Agriculture.

    (e) Moratorium on Use of Climate-Friendly Certification During 
Study.--The Secretary of Agriculture may not issue any regulations or 
guidance or otherwise certify or advertise any agricultural product as 
climate-friendly before the date on which the report required under 
subsection
            (c) is submitted to Congress.
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