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 moreCalPERS 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…
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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.
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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 moreIn 2016, Tara Houska (Honor the Earth, Giniw Collective) was part of the indigenous-led resistance against the Dakota Access Pipeline. During the cold November of that struggle there was a surge of national and global outrage at the viciousness of the company-financed and government-sanctioned response to the protests, including shooting peaceful protesters with water cannons…
Read moreFor far too long, large corporations constantly dump their pollutants into the land, air and water. The constant dumping is harmful to the state’s environment and its citizens. These businesses contaminate California every step of the way: in their construction, goods production, transportation, and, of course, natural resources extraction. Seasonal wildfires and record-setting droughts of…
Read moreCalifornia Public Employees Retirement System still holds $8.5 million in thermal coal producers in violation of SB 185, a 2015 state law on thermal coal divestment. This act requires CalPERS to divest from companies that earn the majority of their revenue from thermal coal production.
Read moreCalPERS has large holdings in the major banks that finance the oil, gas, and coal industry. Fossil fuel companies depend on large-scale bank funding to finance new exploration, development and infrastructure projects. Even after the 2015 Paris Agreement, the biggest banks continued to increase their financing of the fossil fuel industry. Rainforest Action Network reports…
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Finally, in late February I moved our money out of Chase and Wells Fargo banks because they are two of the largest banks in the world putting money into fossil fuel expansion. Soon thereafter, it was Bank of America.
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BankFWD is a campaign leading a newfound excitement around standing up against the undeniable role the banking industry plays in climate change. The Bank Forward campaign is modeled after the idea that if each individual takes the pledge to speak up against banks currently invested in fossil fuels, it will create momentum for the movement,…
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