New York City comptroller Brad Lander has pledged support for a policy that would cease future investments by New York City public pension funds in midstream and downstream fossil fuel infrastructure.
The proposal builds upon the leadership taken previously by Lander and the trustees of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) and the board of Education Retirement System (BERS) to decarbonize the funds’ holdings through strong action consistent with fiduciary duty to their beneficiaries.
The three pension funds previously divested from fossil fuel reserve owners in their public equities portfolio (passed by the boards in 2018 and completed in 2022) and voted to exclude upstream fossil fuel investments (i.e., exploration and extraction) in their private markets investments in 2023.
The policy Lander is now proposing would expand this to exclude future investments in midstream and downstream infrastructur
