In response to this year’s State of the Union address, activists will be meeting again to push what they view as the solution to the administration’s energy policies: divesting from fossil fuels. By their logic, a robust divestment movement will “restrict the social license” of energy companies to operate and “end the use of fossil …
New York City scored plenty of headlines earlier this month when Mayor Bill de Blasio along with Comptroller Scott Stringer announced that the city was “divesting” $5 billion from fossil fuels. As Divestment Facts already pointed out, the announcement was nothing more than a promise to begin the process of examining divestment among New York’s …
In a stunning defeat for the divestment movement, the San Francisco Employees Retirement System (SFERS) opted out of full divestment at a Retirement Board meeting this week, upsetting activists who continue to see rejections in blue cities and states. As the San Francisco Chronicle states, the move “disappoints activists” while the San Francisco Examiner – …
As the San Francisco Employees Retirement System (SFERS) Retirement Board prepares to vote tomorrow on a resolution to divest the fund from fossil fuel holdings, the Chief Investment Officer for SFERS, William Coaker Jr., and its independent economic consultants, NEPC, have released new memos recommending the Board reject the divestment proposal. NEPC writes: “It is …
Last week’s Financial Times editorial pulled no punches when describing the inherent hypocrisy of New York City’s fossil fuel divestment announcement. Noting that the decision was more about political grandstanding than taking any real action to support the environment, the FT highlighted some tangible actions the Big Apple could take in lieu of empty gestures …
On Wednesday, the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS) is holding a special meeting where they are expected to finally vote on whether or not to divest the city’s pension fund from the Carbon 200 within 180 days. While the Retirement Board staff and its economic consultants have both recommended against fossil fuel divestment and …
The Associated Press reports that New York City is reengaging the topic of divestment, with the Mayor making a call for the effort and Comptroller Stringer pushing the funds to pursue the costly, ineffective investment strategy over the next four years. Notably, the media reports the Mayor will be standing side by side with controversial …
“The notion that we’re going to lead the fight on climate change by making the pension fund sell all their energy stocks to me seems like not the smartest strategy. We prefer to be an investor and we engage with companies. We would lose that leverage if we’re not at the table anymore as an …
Nearing the end of a dismal 2017, divestment activists made a last-ditch attempt to change the narrative—promoting a number of empty gestures as “victories” and portraying the divestment movement as growing in momentum. The scoreboard, however, shows us otherwise. In reality, 2017 was another year of letdowns for divestment—with new rejections emerging from colleges across …
A new survey from financial research firm Spectrem Group finds pensioners are more focused on returns over political gestures like divestment and overly active shareholder engagement. According to the survey of over 3,000 pension fund members, 88 percent of national respondents agreed that their pension fund should be “focused on generating returns; it shouldn’t be …
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