NYC Pension Fund Decides to Join Climate-Finance Group

One of New York City’s pension funds is joining a climate-finance group as it double downs on efforts to address investment risks from global warming.

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Bloomberg News

Saijel Kishan and Alastair Marsh

Published Nov 14, 2024  •  2 minute read

Brad Lander Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg Photo by Yuki Iwamura /Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — One of New York City’s pension funds is joining a climate-finance group as it double downs on efforts to address investment risks from global warming.

The New York City Employees’ Retirement System will become part of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, according to a statement from the city’s Comptroller Brad Lander on Thursday.

NYCERS, which manages about $89 billion of assets, last month proposed ending fossil-fuel investments in private markets, including projects such as pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals. The pension fund pledged in 2021 to cut emissions by 2040.

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Lander and NYC pension plans also have pressed banks to publish how much financing they provide for clean-energy projects relative to fossil fuels. JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. agreed to such disclosures earlier this year. Lander said in an interview that he plans to press utilities and other companies to set science-based plans to cut emissions.

The move to join NZAOA comes as climate-finance groups are under attack from Republican politicians, with attorneys general across US states threatening legal action. NZAOA is one of the global coalitions that is part of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. Its insurance group disbanded earlier this year and was replaced with a new initiative after key members walked out en masse following threats of litigation in the US.

“Unfortunately, it won’t be surprising if Donald Trump’s election leads to more walk backs of climate emissions on the US side,” Lander said. “But that’s all the more reason to work with European and Asian asset owners.”

The NZAOA was convened by the United Nations and comprises about 90 insurers and pension funds with a combined $9.5 trillion of assets. Members of the group, which include California Public Employees’ Retirement System and Allianz SE, have committed to individually shift their investments to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and set intermediate decarbonization targets every five years.

NZAOA said in September that its members have cut portfolio emissions at a rate that aligns them with the goal enshrined in the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to the critical threshold of 1.5C. 

(GFANZ is co-chaired by Mark Carney, who is chair of Bloomberg Inc. and a former Bank of England governor, and Michael R. Bloomberg, the founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.)

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