Posts by Robert Silvey
CalSTRS wants feedback on investment — let them know!
UPDATE: CalSTRS has extended the deadline one week, to September 23. The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) is looking for feedback about their sustainability practices, and we have an excellent opportunity to let them know it’s time to divest. Their sustainability survey is here on the CalSTRS website. It’s open to everyone — not just CalSTRS…
Read moreCalSTRS moves $2.5 billion into low-carbon fund
On July 14, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) voted unanimously to move $2.5 billion in assets to a low-carbon index fund. This laudable decision is another indicator of CalSTRS’ focus on the financial consequences of climate change — complementing the board’s recent vote to divest from coal companies, in compliance with the mandates of SB 185, This low-carbon…
Read moreBreak Free LA: a Wave of Global Protests
During the first two weeks in May, thousands of people all over the world participated in what organizers have called the largest ever global civil disobedience against fossil fuels, with dozens of activists arrested during protests that shut down coalmines, rail infrastructure and a port. The rally and march in Los Angeles on May 14 was…
Read moreCalSTRS features Fossil Free California
CalSTRS recently published its annual Sustainability Report, and it shows that the world’s largest teachers’ pension fund is increasingly aware of the significance of divestment. While the report continues to emphasize the current CalSTRS policy of shareholder engagement, the divestment movement receives a full and fair treatment. This page features our work at Fossil Free California. One section of the…
Read moreOakland pension fund considers divestment
Almost two years ago, the Oakland City Council voted to divest, prohibiting the city “from having any financial holdings or investments in fossil fuel companies.” The City of Oakland has begun that process with its own investments, but the Oakland Police and Fire Retirement System (PFRS), as a separate entity, is not bound by the city’s…
Read moreTobacco is a bad investment, CalPERS!
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System is considering a staff proposal this month that could lead to reinvestment in tobacco companies. It would also effectively foreclose divestment from companies that produce fossil fuels and other deadly products. If enacted, the proposal would “forbid CalPERS, in the management of its portfolios, from sacrificing potential investment performance or…
Read moreFrom Oakland to Paris and beyond
For the last two weeks, the climate movement has topped the news, from Oakland to Paris to Melbourne. Leading up to the UN climate talks, hundreds of thousands of people rallied and marched, insisting that the world leaders at COP21 maximize their commitments to a carbon-free future. Altogether, there were more than 2,300 events around the world, and nearly…
Read morePreparing to march for the climate
Climate activists are focused on the upcoming United Nations Conference on Climate Change, planning for marches and rallies in Paris, Washington, Tokyo, Oakland, and dozens of other cities around the world. Political leaders are meeting for two weeks to discuss a potential new global agreement on climate change. The conference begins in Paris on November 30, in what…
Read moreThe Arctic is safer today
Here’s some very good news for the planet—and for Alaska—though not for Shell. The Guardian reports that the US government is canceling some offshore leases and imposing stricter conditions on Arctic drilling. As a result, Shell and other oil companies are unlikely to pursue further exploration in that part of the world. The Guardian: Barack Obama…
Read moreAl Gore's convenient truths about investing (updated)
Atlantic editor James Fallows recently interviewed Al Gore about his decade-long project to test his ideas about green investing. Fallows calls it “an audacious attempt to show that a ‘sustainably’ minded investment strategy could make more money than one simply focused on profit-maximization.” Gore might have been tempted to call the project yet more inconvenient truths, as a…
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