The Seeds for Our Victory in 2023 — Planted in That Day 2013

Photo of founding members of Fossil Free California, standing behind the large concrete CalPERS building sign, holding up the individual letters that spell out, "DIVEST."

What has kept us so committed to Fossil Free California since these early years? A sense of the urgency of climate change propelled our growth, even while we were  a small, wholly volunteer organization. We also had early success: in 2015 we were part of the coalition that helped pass Senate Bill 185, mandating divestment from thermal coal companies by both CalPERS and CalSTRS.

Read more

CalPERS Finally Divests More Coal

Coal Truck in Open Pit Mine

CalPERS has finally divested from three more thermal coal companies, as required by law. Following the passage of SB 185 (2015) CalPERS divested from all but three (out of 17) selected thermal coal mining companies: Exxaro, Adaro, and Banpu.

Read more

CalSTRS 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 more

CalPERS' tobacco debate crystallizes sustainable investment dilemma

Following three months of troubled debate, the CalPERS Board of Administration (acting as the fund’s Investment Committee), will decide at its May 16 meeting whether to put to bed the possibility of reinvesting in tobacco after 16 years of divestment. In spite of restrictions on advertising and a decline in smoking in the U.S., the big tobacco firms’ international…

Read more

CalSTRS Divests from Thermal Coal

On February 3, the Board of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System unanimously passed a motion to divest from U.S. thermal coal companies and to initiate engagement with non-U.S. companies. The motion was made by Board member and State Controller Betty Yee and seconded by State Treasurer John Chiang’s representative. The financial impact of the…

Read more

Brown signs SB 185: Divest coal!

Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 185 today. Our two state pension funds are now required to purge their portfolios of that most pernicious of fossil fuels, coal. It’s time to celebrate! The enactment of SB 185 is an enormous step forward for the divestment movement—in fact, for the entire climate movement—because CalSTRS and CalPERS are the largest state…

Read more

Rebel with a cause: Jerry Brown and the climate

It may be a stretch to continue calling Jerry Brown a rebel after all these years, but today he did revisit James Dean’s old haunt, the Griffith Observatory—and he shook up the fossil fuel establishment. Brown signed into law a landmark piece of climate legislation, Senate Bill 350, and California is now a bit further along the path…

Read more

SB 185: Looks like we did it…

by Janet Cox …with a little help from Bill McKibben and Tom Steyer, who teamed up to accost the Governor at an event they were all attending. He committed to signing the bill, but he didn’t say when. October 11 is his deadline, so stay tuned this week! There has been a lot of good news…

Read more

What do we do now, now that we are happy?

Hey, we are happy! Senate Bill 185 has passed the California Senate and the California Assembly. This unprecedented campaign by Fossil Free California and our many allies has leaped over one obstacle after another, and now we are within a whisker or two of total success. When SB 185 becomes law, the two biggest state pension funds in…

Read more