To: CalPERS Board Members and CalSTRS Board Members
California Pension Funds Should Divest from Fossil Fuels (IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF CALSTRS OR CALPE...
On behalf of members of CalSTRS and CalPERS, the two largest US pension funds which together control over $500-billion dollars in assets, and on behalf of California taxpayers, who ensure the funds meet their member obligations, we, California taxpayers and members of CalSTRS and CalPERS, petition CalSTRS and CalPERS to divest from the declining fossil fuel sector: oil, gas and coal companies. (If you are a member of CalSTRS or CalPERS or a California taxpayer, please mention this in the comments box on the petition.)
Why is this important?
CalSTRS, the $220-billion retirement system for California public school teachers, invests almost $7 billion in the polluting oil and gas industries. This includes investing $750 million in Exxon, a company that plans to triple its oil production in the next 10 years and funds campaigns to deny the science of climate change.
CalPERS—whose members work in California’s public sector on the state, county, and municipal levels—is the largest public pension fund in the United States. In fact, globally CalPERS ranks 7th in the world, larger than many national pension funds. It’s big, with a $347 billion investment portfolio, and when CalPERS moves, other investors follow. The most recent figures suggest CalPERS has an estimated $7 billion invested in fossil fuels.
According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), the oil and gas sector last year placed “dead last” in the Standard & Poor’s 500, an index of 500 of the largest US publicly traded companies. Last year’s dismal performance follows a ten-year downward trend for the fossil fuel industry. In fact, for the last seven years, some funds without fossil fuel investments have outperformed those with fossil fuels.
The writing is on the wall—if we continue to invest in the fossil fuel industry, we jeopardize our finances and, most importantly, our survival.
Carbon Tracker, an independent financial think tank that analyzes the impact of energy transition on capital markets, warns investors of being stuck with “stranded assets” –worthless or near worthless financial holdings –as industrial economies transition to renewables and less developed countries leapfrog fossil fuels to embrace solar and wind.
California lawmakers recognize the need to get off fossil fuels.
Under the rules set forth by the California Public Utilities Commission and the mandates of SB100, the State must source 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2045.
Exxon, with less than 1% of its business in renewables, will presumably fail to meet the State of California’s 33% benchmark for 2020. BP, Shell, Chevron, Conoco-Phillips and the other oil and gas giants—all with less than 3% invested in renewables—are also failing to transition.
Investment managers and policymakers may argue it is more productive to engage than to disengage –to stay invested in the fossil fuel industry in the hopes of influencing it, but there is no evidence yet of a company abandoning its core business, e.g., extracting, producing and distributing fossil fuels, based on shareholder engagement.
And there is precedent for divestment.
Over $6 trillion in funds have already been divested from fossil fuels. A few of the largest divesting entities include: the trillion-dollar Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund; Rockefeller Brothers Fund; World Council of Churches; AXA, a French multinational insurance firm; the City of New York; the City of London; and Ireland.
In the face of global climate chaos—wildfires, drought, famine, floods, mass migration—the UN Secretary-General has issued a call to all pension funds to divest from the fossil fuel industry.
It is time for CalSTRS and CalPERS to divest from fossil fuels.
This petition was created by Marcy Winograd, Jane Vosburg, Deborah Silvey, Sandy Emerson, and Cynthia Kaufman—retired public school teachers and/or members of Fossil Free California
(Fossilfreeca.org).
CalPERS—whose members work in California’s public sector on the state, county, and municipal levels—is the largest public pension fund in the United States. In fact, globally CalPERS ranks 7th in the world, larger than many national pension funds. It’s big, with a $347 billion investment portfolio, and when CalPERS moves, other investors follow. The most recent figures suggest CalPERS has an estimated $7 billion invested in fossil fuels.
According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), the oil and gas sector last year placed “dead last” in the Standard & Poor’s 500, an index of 500 of the largest US publicly traded companies. Last year’s dismal performance follows a ten-year downward trend for the fossil fuel industry. In fact, for the last seven years, some funds without fossil fuel investments have outperformed those with fossil fuels.
The writing is on the wall—if we continue to invest in the fossil fuel industry, we jeopardize our finances and, most importantly, our survival.
Carbon Tracker, an independent financial think tank that analyzes the impact of energy transition on capital markets, warns investors of being stuck with “stranded assets” –worthless or near worthless financial holdings –as industrial economies transition to renewables and less developed countries leapfrog fossil fuels to embrace solar and wind.
California lawmakers recognize the need to get off fossil fuels.
Under the rules set forth by the California Public Utilities Commission and the mandates of SB100, the State must source 100% of its electricity from renewables by 2045.
Exxon, with less than 1% of its business in renewables, will presumably fail to meet the State of California’s 33% benchmark for 2020. BP, Shell, Chevron, Conoco-Phillips and the other oil and gas giants—all with less than 3% invested in renewables—are also failing to transition.
Investment managers and policymakers may argue it is more productive to engage than to disengage –to stay invested in the fossil fuel industry in the hopes of influencing it, but there is no evidence yet of a company abandoning its core business, e.g., extracting, producing and distributing fossil fuels, based on shareholder engagement.
And there is precedent for divestment.
Over $6 trillion in funds have already been divested from fossil fuels. A few of the largest divesting entities include: the trillion-dollar Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund; Rockefeller Brothers Fund; World Council of Churches; AXA, a French multinational insurance firm; the City of New York; the City of London; and Ireland.
In the face of global climate chaos—wildfires, drought, famine, floods, mass migration—the UN Secretary-General has issued a call to all pension funds to divest from the fossil fuel industry.
It is time for CalSTRS and CalPERS to divest from fossil fuels.
This petition was created by Marcy Winograd, Jane Vosburg, Deborah Silvey, Sandy Emerson, and Cynthia Kaufman—retired public school teachers and/or members of Fossil Free California
(Fossilfreeca.org).