# Plain Language Summary: Paris Climate Agreement Disclosure Act

This bill would require large publicly traded companies to tell their investors about their climate goals and progress. Specifically, companies would have to disclose in their annual reports whether they've set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement—which aims to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius and ideally limit it to 1.5 degrees. If a company hasn't set these targets yet but plans to, they'd need to say when they'll commit to them and explain why they haven't already. Companies would also have to report what steps they took in the past year to meet their climate goals and what they plan to do in the coming year.

For companies that refuse to set climate targets aligned with the Paris Agreement, the bill requires them to explain why they're not pursuing these goals and whether they even support the temperature limits outlined in the agreement. This transparency requirement applies to any company that files annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission—essentially all major publicly traded corporations. The SEC would have one year from when the bill becomes law to write the specific rules about how companies must report this information.

The practical effect is that investors would get standardized, comparable information about how serious different companies are about addressing climate change. This could influence investment decisions, since investors increasingly care about environmental risks and long-term sustainability. Companies that drag their feet on climate commitments would have to publicly justify their position, which could create pressure to adopt stronger climate goals. However, the bill doesn't actually require companies to meet any climate targets—it only requires them to disclose their plans and progress, letting investors decide what to do with that information.

Paris Climate Agreement Disclosure Act

Velázquez, Nydia M.

Paris Climate Agreement Disclosure Act This bill requires an issuer of securities to annually disclose information related to its greenhouse gas emissions, including whether the issuer has set emissions targets to comply with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and actions the issuer has taken or plans to take to achieve such targets.