Getting Involved: Tellus, RI@Harvard, and Divest Harvard I first became involved with investment activism in 2011, after the director of my union local hired Joshua Humphreys of the Tellus Institute (at the offices of which, students and advisors met in 2013) to analyze the fundamentals of Harvard Management Company’s practices. This consultancy occurred because Harvard […]
When I wrote Conversion: Fossil Free Endowments in 2013, I admitted that I had been “far too dismissive of the movement…to divest of fossil fuels,” and that divestment was “likely to be a very important part of a larger movement to ensure a salubrious planet.” At the time, my thinking was shaped by debates over […]
Tobacco Investments Update Apparently, CalPERS sent invitations out on 9/27, 10/6 and 10/13 to about 400 people. Although I am on mailing lists for press and rulemaking, I wasn’t on the “stakeholders” mailing list. That has now been corrected going forward. The webinar was brief. CalPERS Chief Operating Officer Wylie Tollette reviewed CalPERS’ prior tobacco divestment actions, […]
The Journal of Environmental Investing (JEI) announced the relaunch of their website and a related Call for Papers. (more…)
Over half of sustainable, responsible, impact (SRI) investment industry professionals say that retail investors (65 percent) and institutional investors (53 percent) are currently expressing interest in fossil fuel-free portfolios in the face of growing signs of climate change, according to First Affirmative Financial Network’s Fossil Fuels Divestment Survey. (more…)
The California Constitution provides that the Legislature may, by statute, prohibit retirement board investments if in the public interest and providing the prohibition satisfies specified fiduciary standards. Current law prohibits the boards of CalPERS and CalSTRS from investing public employee retirement funds in a company with active business operations in Sudan and Iran, as specified. AB […]