News & Actions

Official photograph of Fiona Ma. She is facing the camera, smiling, with arms folded, while wearing a light blue blazer. Behind her is a State of California building with decorative white pillars.

State Treasurer Fiona Ma Issues Statement to Support Divestment Legislation following CalPERS Board Meeting

By Shana DeClercq | March 16, 2023

Divestment sends a message to companies that have shown little interest in seriously addressing a problem that places human existence in peril for the sake of profits: time’s up. This legislation gives our pension funds the necessary time to prudently plan for divestment, including identifying suitable investment alternatives.

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Frequently Asked Questions – Senate Bill 252, The Fossil Fuel Divestment Act

By Shana DeClercq | March 15, 2023

CalPERS has roughly $9.4 billion dollars, and CalSTRS $5.4 billion dollars ($14.8 billion in all) of stock and bond investments in the top 200 coal, oil and gas production companies.

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Información de el proyecto de ley del Senado (SB) 252

By Shana DeClercq | March 13, 2023

¿Por qué es fundamental apoyar el proyecto de ley SB 252? Ahora, en el 2023, es tiempo de acabar con la contaminación de los combustibles fósiles que destruye nuestras comunidades y contamina nuestro aire, suelo y agua. TE NECESITAMOS para ayudar a aprobar el proyecto de ley SB 252 y desinvertir las pensiones públicas de…

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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."

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

By Deborah Silvey | February 10, 2023

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.

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Promises, Promises: Evaluating CalPERS’ Climate Engagements

By Clair Brown and | November 7, 2022

Full Report Here CalPERS seems to have an unshakeable faith in the ability of shareholder engagement to transform fossil fuel companies into clean energy providers.  This report reviews CalPERS’ engagement history with 10 selected Big Oil companies from its portfolio, to test whether engagement is producing real-world results. We looked at CalPERS’ proxy voting patterns…

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New report reveals California pensions CalPERS, CalSTRS vote NO on Big Oil shareholder climate resolutions

By CJ Koepp | June 8, 2022

The retirement systems’ failed shareholder engagement efforts with fossil fuel companies has cost their members $11.9 billion in returns California — A report released today from Fossil Free California reveals that California’s public pensions voted to oppose climate action at major fossil fuel companies and financiers during the 2022 Annual General Meeting season. This exposé…

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What Does Divestment Cost? Misinformation from CalPERS and CalSTRS

By Sandy Emerson | May 9, 2022

The “fiscal impact” analysis for the Appropriations Committee in the state Senate or Assembly can make or break a bill. For divestment bills, CalPERS and CalSTRS have repeatedly given imprecise, incorrect, and inflated figures on the costs of divestment, including in the numbers reported to the Appropriations Committee for SB 1173, the Fossil Fuel Divestment Bill.

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CalSTRS Exaggerates Costs of Divestment

By Owen Doyle, Lanie Goldberg and UC Berkeley Economics Professor Clair Brown | May 3, 2022

CalPERS and CalSTRS manage portfolios worth $466 billion and $323 billion, respectively, so it’s natural for these public pension funds to throw around large numbers. But evidence from the funds themselves and from independent analyses suggests that PERS and STRS wildly exaggerate both the transaction costs and the opportunity costs of divestments in general. In…

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CalSTRS Tunes Out Teachers to Engage with Exxon

By and Cynthia Kaufman | April 12, 2022

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (or, CalSTRS) prides itself on its shareholder engagement with fossil fuel companies. However, by spending their resources, time, and energy on connecting with oil giants like Exxon, CalSTRS has failed to engage with the shareholders who matter most: their own.

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CalPERS’ Portfolio Harbors Nearly $45 Billion in Stranded Fossil Fuel Assets

By Sindre Carlsen and Jonathan Li | March 21, 2022

Photo Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons As we transition towards a sustainable society, the country’s largest public pension fund claims to be doing its part. CalPERS (the California Public Employees’ Retirement System) is attempting to leverage its $27 billion in fossil fuel investments ($5.6 billion in companies with fossil fuel reserves) to ask the companies powering…

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