Editorial: CalPERS must ditch fossil fuel investments. Its new ‘sustainable’ plan doesn’t do that
1 year, 3 months ago

Editorial: CalPERS must ditch fossil fuel investments. Its new ‘sustainable’ plan doesn’t do that

LA Times  

California’s two big public pension funds have been under increasing pressure to divest from fossil fuels as other big institutional investors move to shed their holdings in oil companies and other heavily polluting industries. There’s a commitment to make “more selective investments in high emitting sectors” and to hold companies accountable for reducing their carbon footprint, by establishing a process to exit those without “credible net zero plans.” It’s good to see the nation’s largest public pension fund taking initial steps to shift its portfolio away from some of the highest-polluting companies that refuse to switch to cleaner technologies. In many ways, this plan seems like new wrapping on the fund’s old approach of using its shareholder power to try to coax fossil fuel companies into acting more responsibly. While it is encouraging to see CalPERS officials start to take seriously calls to dump fossil fuels and prioritize renewable energy, their solution would only prolong the power and influence of an industry whose reckless and deceitful actions going back decades continue to fuel a worsening climate catastrophe.

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History of this topic

Letters to the Editor: Oil and gas divestment will do nothing to slow climate change
9 months ago

Letters to the Editor: Oil and gas divestment will do nothing to slow climate change

LA Times  

To the editor: Having state pension funds divest from fossil fuel companies accomplishes nothing other than inhibiting choices for investment managers. To the editor: Thank you for your editorial on Senate Bill 252, the proposed California legislation to divest from fossil fuels in our pension funds. I am one of the many retired educators who made phone calls and wrote …

Editorial: Shame on California lawmakers for killing fossil fuel divestment bill again
9 months, 1 week ago

Editorial: Shame on California lawmakers for killing fossil fuel divestment bill again

LA Times  

Youth soccer teams practice at a park in the Wilmington neighborhood of Los Angeles in the shadow of an oil refinery. In a state whose leaders speak with urgency about fighting climate change, it’s shameful and hypocritical that CalPERS and CalSTRS have billions of dollars in public employees’ retirement money invested in planet-wrecking fossil fuel companies including Exxon Mobil, Chevron …

Letters to the Editor: I’m on a state pension, and I want California to ditch its fossil fuel investments
1 year, 3 months ago

Letters to the Editor: I’m on a state pension, and I want California to ditch its fossil fuel investments

LA Times  

Steam is emitted from smoke stacks at a coal-fired power plant in Craig, Colo., in 2021. To the editor: Having taught in a public community college for many years, I have benefited from investments made by the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. If legislation will accomplish what the board members for CalSTRS and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System have …

Stop funding fossil fuels with pensions, latex-clad Olivia Colman says in advert
1 year, 4 months ago

Stop funding fossil fuels with pensions, latex-clad Olivia Colman says in advert

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Olivia Colman has dressed as a latex-wearing oil executive called Oblivia Coalmine in a new …

Opinion: California’s pension funds are wrecking the planet and losing billions. It’s quite a trick
1 year, 9 months ago

Opinion: California’s pension funds are wrecking the planet and losing billions. It’s quite a trick

LA Times  

I remember, more than a decade ago, sitting down with a financial executive from the Church of England in a plush London office. They’re risky and immoral Legislation to force California’s large and public employee pension funds to divest from the top oil and gas companies is a financially prudent move in a world where the impacts of climate change …

Editorial: California should stop investing its retirement funds in fossil fuels. They’re risky and immoral
1 year, 9 months ago

Editorial: California should stop investing its retirement funds in fossil fuels. They’re risky and immoral

LA Times  

California has some of the nation’s leading climate policies, with hard deadlines to slash greenhouse gas emissions, switch to zero-emission cars and trucks and get 100% of its electricity from carbon-free sources. But so far, its leaders have lagged behind other states, like Maine and New York, in using another important tool — the financial power of its massive public …

Stopping fossil fuel investments won't put pensions at risk: Researchers
4 years, 6 months ago

Stopping fossil fuel investments won't put pensions at risk: Researchers

NL Times  

Pension funds' argument that they have to keep investing in the fossil fuel sector in order not to jeopardize returns is not true, according to professors Bert Scholtens and Auke Plantinga of the University of Groningen, who researched investments in 7 thousand companies world wide, Trouw reports. Investments in fossil fuels usually involve high profits, linked to higher risks - …

The SEC Just Made The Case For Divesting From Fossil Fuel Companies Much Stronger
6 years, 11 months ago

The SEC Just Made The Case For Divesting From Fossil Fuel Companies Much Stronger

Huff Post  

Rigging equipment outside Sweetwater, Texas. “Obviously the oil and gas companies haven’t changed what they do, but from an investor perspective, even getting them to think about how they can transition is good.” But that sort of patient approach to shifting away from fossil fuels conflicts with the increasingly dire warnings from climate scientists who say the world economy requires …

World's biggest investment fund considers ditching fossil fuels
7 years, 4 months ago

World's biggest investment fund considers ditching fossil fuels

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. “Our perspective here is to spread the risks for the state’s wealth,” Egil Matsen, the deputy central bank governor …

Column: Weighing the cost and benefit of divestment
9 years, 2 months ago

Column: Weighing the cost and benefit of divestment

LA Times  

Divesting from the coal industry is one thing, given CalPERS’ and CalSTRS’ relatively small investments. “On the global stage, California is seen as a bellwether on climate action,” says May Boeve, executive director of 350.org, an organizer of the fossil fuel divestment campaigns and other climate change initiatives. “Despite the prominence and publicity of the boycott and the multitude of …

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