Climate Finance Action

When fiduciary duty gets filtered through outdated tools. 😅

One of the most common question we get about pensions and climate: why don't funds just divest from fossil fuels?

It's a fair question. But pension governance is more complicated than selling one set of stocks and buying another, and understanding why unlocks a more powerful set of tools for workers and trustees.

Our latest blog breaks it down, starting with a house that's already sinking:

Why Pension Climate Strategy Is Bigger Than One Tool — Climate Finance Action When people first start learning about public pensions and climate risk, one of the most common questions is: Why don’t pension funds just divest from fossil fuels? It’s a fair question. But pension governance is more complicated than simply selling one set of stocks and buying another.

Most funds agree that climate risk is material. Fewer have aligned policies, incentives, and authority to act on it.

That gap is where progress stalls.

Your pension is not a gift from your employer or the state — it is a portion of your wages, deferred and invested on your behalf, which means the trillions of dollars sitting in public pension funds across the country came from workers and belong to workers.

Our latest blog unpacks what "labor's capital" means, why the language matters, and what workers, trustees, and organizers can do with it.

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What "Labor's Capital" Means and Why the Phrase Matters For You — Climate Finance Action What does "labor's capital" actually mean, and why does the phrase matter? This piece breaks down how a shift in language can transform workers from passive pension recipients into active stakeholders with the power to shape how their money is invested.

"Green jobs" can mean something different to a union organizer than it does to an environmentalist. That gap is one of the most important problems in the climate movement right now.

New guest post breaks it down. 🔗

Investing in Our Labor and Climate Future: “Bread for All, and Roses Too” — Climate Finance Action University of Cincinnati sociologist Todd Lu examines why the "green jobs" frame fractures across labor and climate movements and what institutional investors can do to build the coalitions that climate action actually requires.

Your pension is not a gift from your employer or the state — it is a portion of your wages, deferred and invested on your behalf, which means the trillions of dollars sitting in public pension funds across the country came from workers and belong to workers.

Our latest blog unpacks what "labor's capital" means, why the language matters, and what workers, trustees, and organizers can do with it.

📖

What "Labor's Capital" Means and Why the Phrase Matters For You — Climate Finance Action What does "labor's capital" actually mean, and why does the phrase matter? This piece breaks down how a shift in language can transform workers from passive pension recipients into active stakeholders with the power to shape how their money is invested.

Got a pension governance, public capital, or worker power research question that keeps coming up? A knowledge gap that your team doesn't have the capacity to fill? A white paper that needs a thought partner?

We want to collaborate with you. Check out our work and let's connect: https://www.climatefinanceaction.org/research

"Green jobs" can mean something different to a union organizer than it does to an environmentalist. That gap is one of the most important problems in the climate movement right now.

New guest post breaks it down. 🔗 https://www.climatefinanceaction.org/blog/investing-in-our-labor-and-climate-futurenbspbread-for-all-and-roses-too

"Green jobs" sounds like common ground. But union leaders and environmental organizers often mean very different things when they say it, and that has real consequences for coalition building and climate action.

Todd Lu, Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Cincinnati, interviewed forty-five labor and climate leaders in North Carolina and found that the phrase can pull people in opposite directions. In a new guest post for CFA, he makes the case that institutional investors have a role to play in closing that gap and offers three concrete ways to get started.

Worth reading and worth sharing: https://www.climatefinanceaction.org/blog/investing-in-our-labor-and-climate-futurenbspbread-for-all-and-roses-too

How a pension fund communicates with its beneficiaries and how transparent it is about the decisions being made with their money matters more than most people realize.

We spent time documenting how major U.S. public pension funds are doing this — CalPERS, CalSTRS, NYSTRS, Oregon State Treasury, Florida SBA, and more. What we found is a map of what is possible and what is increasingly expected.

Download the research now at: https://www.climatefinanceaction.org/research