Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill Passes California State Senate

A bill (SB 1173) which will require California’s state public pension funds to divest from fossil fuel holdings has passed the California State Senate and now moves to an Assembly vote. There is currently an estimated US$9 billion invested in fossil fuel holdings between the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), which are the United States’ two largest public pension funds. Last week ESG Investor reported on the potential implications of the bill passing and examined a report from Fossil Free California (FFC) which claimed CalPERS and CalSTRS had exaggerated the figures of the costs of divestment from fossil fuels. CJ Koepp, FFC Communications Coordinator, said: “These investments have real-world consequences—not only for the firefighters, teachers, and healthcare workers who are counting on their pensions to invest responsibly, but for the people across California who bear the brunt of wildfires and pollution.”

 

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