Dear President Biden;

As United States federal employees, members of the uniformed services, veterans, and retirees, we seek to invest our retirement savings in funds that do not contribute to climate change or deforestation. We respectfully ask you to:

1. Use your executive authority to require that Thrift Savings Plan funds divest from companies whose primary business is oil, natural gas, and coal exploration and production.

2. Appoint to the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board members who
(a) understand that climate risk is a systemic risk to financial markets, and
(b) will require the asset managers for the Thrift Savings Plan to support shareholder resolutions on climate change mitigation and deforestation.

We have committed to protect and defend the health and safety of the country’s people and environment. Yet, our Thrift Savings Plan retirement savings are invested in companies that are driving the climate crisis. Recent federal government reports, such as those from the U.S. Federal Reserve, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the thirteen agencies in the Global Change Research Program, outline the risks posed by climate change to our nation’s economy, national security, public health, and environment. We are proud to serve the American public. We want our investments to reflect our values and the missions that we proudly serve.

Furthermore, as the economy has been shifting to clean energy sources, the TSP has not met its fiduciary duty to provide investments in participants' best financial interests. While many other funds have sold coal, oil, and gas investments due to low financial returns, the TSP has retained investments in fossil fuel companies. It's now widely understood in financial markets and by central banks that fossil fuel stocks have been in long-term decline and have underperformed the market for almost a decade. For example, the S&P 500 Fossil Fuel Free Total Return index has outperformed the S&P 500 Total Return index, namely the TSP C Fund, since 2012. Coal, oil, and gas companies are poor investments and present financial risk to TSP members' earnings.

The United States is now back in the Paris agreement. Your administration is taking executive action to address the climate crisis by ending fossil fuel subsidies and developing climate finance plans. As your administration accelerates the transition to a low-carbon economy, we want our retirement portfolios to benefit from these clean energy investments and avoid the potential high risk and low returns of fossil fuels.

Thank you for considering our concerns.

Signed,

Employees and retirees from these federal agencies:

Center for Disease Control
Central Intelligence Agency
Congressional Research Service
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Defense Health Agency
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Defense
Department Energy
Department of Homeland Security
Department of Interior
Department of Justice
Department of Labor
Department of State
Department of Treasury
Department of Transportation
Department of Veteran Affairs
Environmental Protection Agency
Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Housing Finance Agency
Federal Trade Commission
Fish and Wildlife Service
Food and Drug Administration
General Services Administration
Government Accountability Office
Health Resources and Services Administration
Health and Human Services
Housing and Urban Development
Indian Health Service
Internal Revenue Service
Library of Congress
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Archives and Records Administration
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institutes of Health
National Institute of Standards and Technology
National Labor Relations Board
National Park Service
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Science Foundation
Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation
Securities and Exchange Commission
Smithsonian
Social Security Administration
U.S. Army
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Congress
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
U.S. Forest Service
U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Marine Corps
U.S. Postal Service