New York state is divesting its pension fund from fossil fuels

As the climate crisis worsens, cities, states, and even entire countries —along with churches, universities, and foundations including the Rockefellers Brothers Fund—have opted to divest from fossil fuels, removing their investment dollars from companies in industries like coal or oil. Now, New York state is the latest to take that step. Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced December 9 that the state will pull its $226 billion pension fund out of the “riskiest” oil and gas companies by 2025, and completely decarbonize the portfolio by 2040. The state’s pension fund, officially called the Common Retirement Fund, holds and invests the pensions of more than a million state and local government employees and retirees. It’s the third largest pension fund in the U.S., and it’s held a lot of money in fossil fuels—historically, more than $12 billion, according to the #DivestNY coalition, which is made up of more than 40 environmental advocate groups . More than $1 billion of that has been invested in Exxon Mobil alone. The state will no longer finance fossil fuels through this fund. This announcement builds on one from July 2020 when New York state announced it would divest its pension fund from 22 coal companies after […]

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