Climate change threatens not only the health of the planet but also Americans’ financial well-being. Climate disasters can quickly undermine the value of people’s homes, while the broader effects of the climate crisis can disrupt the health of the broader financial sector. One clear example is in the home insurance market, where climate-exacerbated risks from hurricanes and wildfires are making parts of America hard to insure.

Climate change threatens broader financial stability too, both through direct risks to the real estate market, but also through portfolio risks that could impact pensions and mutual funds. Adequately characterizing and valuing these climate risks with better data and analysis can inform decision making and regulations to mitigate climate financial risk. Policymakers should ensure that financial markets integrate climate risks into their decision making and turn away from anti-capitalist efforts to prevent the financial sector from accounting for environmental risk factors.

Young adults who are engaged in either work or school strengthen our communities and provide significant economic benefits. When policymakers invest in supporting opportunity youth, defined as those between 16 and 24 who are neither in school nor working, the benefits are widespread and long term.

Expanding employment opportunities for opportunity youth—including through proven year-round and summer job training programs—can help improve work readiness, expand professional networks, boost earnings, and reduce interaction with the criminal justice system. Certain programs have also been shown to improve public safety and reduce gun violence. There are several avenues for Congress to invest in these proven programs, including through a reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and other federal initiatives.

Puerto Rico is once again beginning a path to economic growth despite multiple challenges over the past two decades. There is now an opportunity to maintain and bolster that growth through large-scale investment in critical infrastructure. The U.S. Congress has appropriated $12 billion in relief funding to rebuild Puerto Rico’s energy system, including modernizing the energy grid, in response to the destruction that multiple natural disasters had caused. These funds offer an opportunity for investment in a modern grid that facilitates renewable energy transmission and distribution, as well as in renewable generation infrastructure. A more resilient energy system that uses cleaner, domestically produced sources will protect communities’ health and wellbeing, and provide a strong foundation on which Puerto Rico can further build a future of strong and more equitable economic growth.