New York City’s largest pension funds divert $4 billion in Exxon and other Oil & Gas corporations. The move to sell off holdings in fossil fuel companies, led by Comptroller Stringer and Mayor de Blasio, is a historic win for climate action, and New Yorkers are thrilled.
Marilyn Vasta, an activist of the Peoples Climate Movement NY, said:
It is right and just that, in the midst of the deadly pandemic, our beloved NYC is choosing life over death and acting on its commitment to divest the pension funds from fossil fuel investments. For too long, we have financially supported the polluters that harm us; it is time to make polluters pay as we invest in a just transition to renewable energy. Although it has taken almost a decade, from small living room meetings to a city-wide cry for divestment, the Peoples Climate Movement-NY proudly stands today with Comptroller Stringer and Mayor de Blasio, and applaud them for taking this positive step towards a fossil-free future.
The pension funds’ vote to initiate full fossil fuel divestment fulfills the city’s commitment to divest fossil fuels. The promise made in 2018 has finally come to fruition. NYC’s pension funds are the largest municipal pension funds (valued at $239 billion) to divest globally.
Bill McKibben, 350.org author, and co-founder said:
New York City has set a new bar for climate finance action. Today’s landmark action marks a bad day for Big Oil and a good day for the City’s pension systems and our planet. By taking billions out of the companies that own and profit off of fossil fuels, New York City is playing an enormous role in moving the financial industry towards a greener future.
NYC’s divestment commitment inspired worldwide action, with many other considerable funds – like the Norwegian Sovereign Fund, the City of London, and the New York State Common Retirement Fund – following with their own commitments.
Rachel Rivera, a New York Communities for Change member and Hurricane Sandy survivor, said:
My family lost everything to Hurricane Sandy, a climate disaster. I am so happy now to see the pension funds dump billions of dollars of investments in the likes of Exxon. We worked hard to get to this moment. Our movement is rising!
Lyna Hinkel, Founder of 350NYC, said:
Thanks to the Comptroller, Mayor, Trustees, and eight years of grassroots activism, we are finally turning the tide against the inertia of business as usual and the funding of our own demise, giving concrete hope for a more sustainable future. May this move inspire other leaders to urgently follow suit.
Portfolio managers see fossil fuel corporations as an increasingly lousy risk. Such companies have underperformed in financial markets for years now.
Lifelong New Yorker Lindsay Meiman, a 350.org Communications Manager, said:
New York is a beacon of real climate leadership, as our City’s pension funds divest over $4 billion from climate criminals like ExxonMobil. We are re-engineering resilience, and if New York can do it, every single pension, university, bank, an insurer can cut ties with fossil fuels too.
Over the past ten years, divestment has transitioned from a symbolic action by small college endowments into a global movement, resulting in more than $14 trillion worth of investment funds divesting or committing to divest from the fossil fuels industries.
Jordan Dale, with the 350NJ-Rockland and #DivestNY coalition, said:
Humanity is engaged in an epic battle to save the planet for future generations. The enemy is fossil fuels, and every step that works toward shutting them down is critical. Kudos to NYC for doing its part.
All significant finance of fossil fuels and deforestation must end by 2030 to fulfill the Paris climate agreement’s mission of staving off catastrophic climate change.
