Tell CalPERS and CalSTRS to Divest!

CalPERS and CalSTRS refuse to use divestment from fossil fuels as a tool to address the racial injustices and the social, physical, and financial impacts of climate change. 

Fossil fuels exposure causes asthma, respiratory disease, and cancer in the US and particularly impacts low income communities and communities of color who are disproportionately located near industry and mining sites. Despite hearing personal anecdotes of disease and loss from youth and elders alike, CalSTRS and CalPERS refuse to acknowledge their complicity in the fossil fuel market. It is time to divest.

Fossil fuel production directly contributes to climate change, land destruction, and to the fires which have begun to ravage California. CalPERS and CalSTRS continue to support this destruction through their ongoing investment in the fossil fuel industry. CalPERS and CalSTRS issue statements of condolence for property loss and death resulting from climate change induced fires, but refuse to discuss the implications of financially supporting the perpetrators of destruction. Demand that CalSTRS and CalPERS divest.

With the decade-long economic decline of the fossil fuel energy sector, the pension funds also have a fiduciary duty to decrease their investments in fossil fuels, on behalf of the financial interest of their beneficiaries (California Constitution Article XVI 17(a)). CalPERS and CalSTRS responsibly invest money in order to provide a pension to retired state employees and teachers - their investment in fossil fuels is not achieving that. Demand that CalPERS and CalSTRS divest from risky fossil fuels.

Instead, CalSTRS and CalPERS claim that they must stay invested in fossil fuels to maintain their "seat at the table". No shareholder engagement through proxy resolutions will convince fossil fuel companies to stop mining, processing, and selling fossil fuels; it’s their entire business model!

Add your voice to this petition to tell the Funds: Divest Now!

I petition the Boards of the California Employees Retirement System, the California State Teachers Retirement System, and other public investment funds in California to instruct their asset managers to:

• Divest from all exposure to fossil fuel companies and fossil-fired utilities*, beginning immediately; 
• Report annually to the public about the progress of these divestments.

*Companies engaged in exploration & production, refining & marketing and storage & transportation of oil & gas and coal & consumable fuels. This also includes companies that offer oil & gas equipment and services, plus fossil-fired utility companies.