John,
“New York – a vulnerable city set just feet above the Atlantic – is leading the world in its financial response to climate change.”
That’s what climate leader Bill McKibben said about our announcement of a plan for the NYC pension funds to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
I ran for Comptroller promising to bring all the office’s tools to bear on confronting the climate crisis: one of the biggest risks facing our city today. If you support this work, can you chip in with a $10 donation today to help?
Our Net Zero Implementation Plan is an ambitious, precedent-setting approach to not only reducing emissions from NYC’s pension funds’ investments, but across the global economy.
Building on the historic divestment from fossil fuel reserve owners, the plan encompasses four core strategies:
- Disclosing our current emissions and setting achievable but ambitious interim targets for 2025 and 2030 that will help us stay on track for net zero by 2040
- Engaging all the asset managers we work with, in public and private markets, to set real goals for reducing emissions in their portfolio, and working with fellow institutional investors to push portfolio companies to do the same
- Investing in companies that advance climate solutions like renewable energy and resiliency infrastructure
- When engagement fails, bringing potential divestment proposals to the trustees for consideration
With awareness of climate change’s physical and financial risks on the rise, many companies and institutional investors have made net zero pledges in recent years. But it's going to take hard work to make those commitments real. I believe our plan is one of the most serious and comprehensive in the country, and we hope that our work can serve as a national model.
To prevent the worst effects of rising seas and storms, investors, corporations, and governments will need to transform the global economy into one that can sustain us for generations to come.
Brad
