Pension funds need to consider divesting from fossil fuels

London

PUBLIC pension funds are tasked with safeguarding the financial futures of their members, which requires making the best possible investment choices. There is a glaring irony when those choices may endanger the lives they are intended to support, such as when such funds finance fossil fuel production. Policymakers and fund managers must acknowledge this discrepancy and address how pension funds and other public investment institutions are contributing to global warming.

New York is taking responsibility. Over the next five years, the city's five public pension funds will divest the US$5 billion they hold in fossil fuel investments as its officials sue the five biggest oil companies: BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon and Shell.