# Plain Language Summary: RESPOND Act of 2024

This bill asks two major financial agencies—the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission—to produce annual reports analyzing how climate change is costing the American economy. These reports would look at concrete impacts like job losses in affected industries, damage to property and land from rising sea levels and extreme weather, and the costs of disaster relief and recovery. Essentially, the government wants to put a dollar figure on climate change's economic damage so Congress can see the full financial picture.

The bill also creates a special advisory panel focused on how federal employee retirement funds should handle climate-related investment risks. This panel would examine whether the government's pension investments should shift away from fossil fuel companies toward cleaner energy investments. The panel would study whether divesting from oil, gas, and coal companies could actually make retirement funds more profitable and stable in the long run, rather than less profitable. If the panel concludes that moving away from fossil fuels would be both financially smart and legally responsible, the government could restructure its retirement fund investments accordingly.

Finally, if the advisory panel determines that the government can't profitably shift away from fossil fuels, the bill would create a new investment option for federal employees called the Climate Choice Stock Index Fund. This fund would work like other investment options available to federal workers, but it would specifically exclude companies involved in coal, oil, and gas production. Federal employees could choose to invest their retirement savings in this climate-conscious fund if they wanted to, giving them an alternative that aligns with environmental goals without forcing anyone into it.

RESPOND Act of 2024

Cleaver, Emanuel

Restructuring Environmentally Sound Pensions in Order to Negate Disaster Act of 2024 or the RESPOND Act of 2024 The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board must establish an advisory panel on the economics of climate change to advise and report on how the board can implement investment strategies that align with the United States’ goal of&nbsp;zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The board must then assess whether implementing low-carbon investment strategies is profitable and consistent with its duties.If the board is unable to find that such strategies would be profitable, the bill establishes the Climate Choice Stock Index Fund as part of the Federal Employees Retirement System's Thrift Savings Plan. This fund is established as an investment portfolio that performs similarly to other plan index funds, but does not invest in fossil fuels.Finally, the Federal Reserve Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission must annually report on the economic costs of climate change.