California State Pensions to Divest Coal Investments

OCTOBER 21, 2015: Earlier this month, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 185, which requires California’s state pension funds, Calpers and CalSTRS, to divest investments in companies that generate 50% or more of their revenue from mining thermal coal.
The new law sets a deadline for divestment of July 1, 2017 and prohibits new investments in coal.
In June, Trillium Asset Management testified in support of the bill, stating “Recent independent studies [1,2] have shown that investors can go fossil fuel free without major negative impacts on portfolio performance”.
Among public pensions, CalPERS and CalSTRS have an established record of demonstrated leadership on the environment. The passage of this law is significant, as CalSTRS and CalPERS are the largest state pension funds in the United States, and the first public pensions to divest explicitly on the grounds of coal’s contribution to climate change.
Trillium commends Governor Brown for signing the bill into law, as well as President pro Tempore Kevin de León for his leadership in introducing SB 185 in the California Senate.

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[1] http://www.aperiogroup.com/system/files/documents/building_a_carbon_free_portfolio.pdf
[2] The MSCI ACWI ex-carbon vs. the MSCI ACWI for the time period February 2008- March 2013