Letter
Letter to Congress Regarding the PROVE IT Act, October 16, 2024
October 16, 2024
Dear Senator/Representative:
On behalf of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committees on Domestic Justice and Human Development and International Justice and Peace, we write in support of the bipartisan “Providing Reliable, Objective, Verifiable Emissions Intensity and Transparency” (PROVE IT) Act of 2024 (S.1863/H.R.8957). This bill will afford the US government with reliable information about the emissions intensity of numerous important products produced in the United States compared to those abroad.
Cement, plastics, fertilizer, steel, wind turbines, petrochemicals, solar panels, fossil fuels and other products enumerated in the PROVE IT Act are central to economic development, international trade and global decarbonization. In his apostolic exhortation on the climate crisis, Laudate Deum, Pope Francis calls for “spaces for conversation, consultation, arbitration, conflict resolution and supervision, and, in the end, a sort of increased ‘democratization’ in the global context” (no. 43). The PROVE IT Act is not a treaty and may not be used as authority for the imposition of a carbon tax or new regulations, but rather provides transparent information about emission intensity which in turn can educate exchanges in democratic spaces. With reliable data on the emissions intensity of such products, industries from nations that have invested in rapid decarbonization, such as the United States, may be acknowledged for their ecologically responsible actions.
In the spirit of transparent information, the House version of the Act also requires a report on human rights abuses associated with products, reflecting the integral ecology promoted by the Holy Father: “a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment” (Laudato Si’, no. 49). The PROVE IT Act recognizes the social and ecological responsibilities of nations and provides useful knowledge for rapid decarbonization. We commend the bipartisan collaboration on behalf of the common good in this legislation and urge you to support the PROVE IT Act of 2024.
Sincerely,
Most Reverend Borys Gudziak
Archbishop of Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia
Chairman, Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development
Most Reverend A. Elias Zaidan
Bishop of Maronite Eparchy of Our Lady of Lebanon
Chairman, Committee on International Justice and Peace