Managing more than $46 trillion in assets worldwide, pension funds are the world’s largest asset owners and among the biggest investors in fossil fuels. By funneling billions of dollars into this polluting industry, pension funds risk both the climate and the hard-earned retirement savings of our public workers.

Fossil fuel investments are losing our public employees money, supporting pollution in our communities, and threatening our climate.

The Climate Safe Pensions Network is a North American network of multi-generational campaigns working to shift our pensions out of risky fossil fuels and into regenerative climate solutions.

You can see everything that the Climate Safe Pensions Network is up to on their website: https://climatesafepensions.org/

A volatile investment

Retirement savings should not be invested in a volatile industry, and the Climate Safe Pensions Network is calling for a halt to the financial support of fossil fuel companies, the primary drivers of the climate crisis.

  • Nearly all public pension funds in the U.S. and Canada are invested in fossil fuel companies –and thus using our tax dollars to support the powerful polluters that are causing the climate crisis.
  • Pension funds’ investments in fossil fuels place our pension funds at risk. Already big coal, oil and gas companies are underperforming compared to the rest of the market. It is widely expected that the assets of many fossil fuel companies will eventually become stranded and stock values will plunge. This bursting of the “carbon bubble” could cause losses greater than the 2008 financial crisis, according to a recent study.
  • State pension funds in the US control more than $4 trillion, and the 10 largest Canadian public pension funds control more than $1 trillion. These funds’ stubborn refusal to divest from underperforming fossil fuel stocks has already cost pensioners in North America billions of dollars.

Pension fund divestment campaigns are active in states including Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Washington, as well as in Canada. Here’s a snapshot of some of the work underway with further information on local campaigns and how to plug in.

Want to get more involved or join Climate Safe Pensions Network? Email amy@stand.earth.

A Pair of New Reports

The Quiet Culprit: A first of its kind comprehensive accounting of the fossil fuel exposure of 14 pension funds in one report from Climate Safe Pensions Network and Stand.earth reveals that just 14 U.S. public pension funds are the quiet culprits of climate chaos: with $81.6 billion invested in coal, oil, and gas.

Download the report

 

Invest / Divest 2021: The fossil fuel divest-invest movement released a new report detailing how institutions representing an unprecedented total of $39.2 trillion worth of assets have now committed to some form of fossil fuel divestment, a figure that’s higher than the annual GDP of the United States and China combined.

Download the report

Join the CAMPAIGN

We’re going to keep the pressure on until Chase completely stops funding the climate crisis.
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Are you part of an organization looking to join the Chase Campaign as a coalition member? Email the campaign coordinator.