News & Actions

City of Encinitas Tells CalPERS to Divest

By Sara Theiss | September 27, 2021

On Wednesday, September 22, 2021, Encinitas City Council unanimously passed Resolution 67-2021 urging CalPERS to divest from fossil fuels.

Read more
Coal Truck in Open Pit Mine

CalPERS Finally Divests More Coal

By Sandy Emerson | September 24, 2021

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

Time’s Up, CalPERS! Defund Climate Chaos

By Fossil Free California | September 6, 2021

On November 1, Managing Director Anne Simpson and other CalPERS dignitaries will appear on the global stage of the COP26 conference in Glasgow. This climate summit (competing for air time with climate-change-fueled natural disasters and the continuing global pandemic) is another opportunity for world leaders to pledge to address climate chaos by setting emissions reduction…

Read more
Managing Investment Director Anne Simpson

Hard Questions for CalPERS’ Anne Simpson

By Fossil Free California | September 1, 2021

Fossil Free California has some hard questions for Anne Simpson, who is the Managing Investment Director for Board Governance & Sustainability at CalPERS. She has helped create and perpetuate a culture of predatory delay, in which the strategy of shareholder engagement is not bolstered by credible actions to decarbonize the portfolio. Instead, CalPERS pledges “net-zero…

Read more

Kids to CalSTRS: Divest from Fossil Fuels

By Marcy Winograd | August 28, 2021

The kids are mad as hell—and so are teachers who want their California teacher pension fund, CalSTRS, to join 1,000 other institutions collectively divesting $14.5 trillion from the fossil fuel industry that threatens climate catastrophe.

Read more
protesters with signs saying "fossil free california"

A Good Summer for Divestment

By Fossil Free California | June 23, 2021

For climate activists, this will be a summer to remember. The last few weeks have produced a flood of good news for divestment campaigns.

Read more

Victory for Engagement at Exxon: It’s Not Enough

By Fossil Free California | June 6, 2021

Fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil was forced to seat three new climate-competent board members on May 26, as a result of a $30 million proxy fight led by a tiny hedge fund named Engine No.1.  Will this unprecedented event help transform Exxon into a climate-friendly company?  Chris Ailman, the CIO of CalSTRS who was among the…

Read more

CalPERS’ Private Debt Secrecy Bill: AB 386

By Sandy Emerson | May 11, 2021

CalPERS is sponsoring a subtle but dangerous bill to exempt its private lending from public scrutiny. AB 386, which pertains only to CalPERS, calls for details of private debt transactions to be exempt from reporting under the California Public Records Act.   Celebrated journalist Dan Walters points out in a widely circulated opinion piece from May…

Read more
CFA at CalPERS, 2019

Faculty Power! CFA Endorses Divestment

By Carlos Davidson and Fossil Free California | April 30, 2021

The California Faculty Association, representing 29,000 professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches in the California State University system, overwhelmingly approved a resolution asking CalPERS to divest from fossil fuels.

Read more
Defund Line 3 art by Dio Cramer

May 7: #StopLine3 Global Day of Action

By Sandy Emerson | April 29, 2021

For the past 7 years, Indigenous communities and allies across the Midwest have been working to shut down Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline because it violates treaties and spells destruction for the land, water, and climate. Indigenous-led water protectors have protested, chained themselves to earth-moving equipment, and run miles in freezing weather to bring more than…

Read more

Archive