Washington (November 21, 2025) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Representative Veronica Escobar (TX-16) today announced the reintroduction of the Targeting Environmental and Climate Recklessness Act (TECRA), legislation to restrict access to the U.S. financial system for those individuals and companies most responsible for exacerbating climate change and deforestation.
The United States has successfully restricted financial access for foreign individuals and companies involved in egregious behaviors, including cybercrime, human rights abuses, corruption, and wildlife trafficking—imposing financial sanctions on an international conglomerate for wildlife trafficking and other crimes in 2018, for example—yet no restriction exists for the people and entities destroying our environment. As international climate negotiations conclude at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, it is more important than ever to develop tools to hold to account the people and companies responsible for the worst pollution, deforestation, and abuses against environmental defenders.
“While the Trump administration denies climate change and attacks our collective progress towards a livable future, we must show rest of the world that U.S. leaders at local, state, and congressional levels will keep the drumbeat going on ambitious climate leadership, environmental protection, and justice for environmental defenders everywhere. We need to hold environmentally destructive companies and individuals accountable for their climate crimes. The outsized effects of climate change continue to threaten our homes, communities, and neighborhoods, and these polluters are complicit,” said Senator Markey. “As climate catastrophes and attacks on defenders grow in scale and frequency, we need a global partnership that holds these polluters accountable and keeps our climate and environmental defenders safe.”
“We are living through the accelerating impacts of a global climate crisis, and communities like mine feel its devastating effects every single day,” said Congresswoman Escobar. “The United States cannot allow bad actors who engage in reckless, climate-destroying behavior to continue operating with impunity. TECRA gives our government the tools to hold these polluters accountable, curb corruption tied to environmental degradation and defend those who risk their lives to protect our planet. I am proud to work alongside Senator Markey to champion this legislation.”
The legislation would ensure that existing human rights and corruption sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Sanctions Program cover corruption that results in climate-damaging projects, as well as human rights abuses of environment defenders. The Global Magnitsky Sanctions Program was established under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act to authorize the U.S. government to hold those who violate human rights accountable for their abuse and corruption.
The Targeting Environmental and Climate Recklessness Act (TECRA) legislation specifically:
Senator Markey has been outspoken in his support for strong U.S. climate leadership on the international stage.
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