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In his final year as Oregon State Treasurer, Tobias Reed is proposing a roadmap to make the state’s $100 billion pension fund carbon neutral by 2050.
Reed attended a meeting of the state Legislature’s Emergency Management, General Government and Veterans Affairs Committee last Thursday, a day after environmental groups visited the Capitol to promote another bill that would eliminate the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). He previewed his “Net Zero Plan” at , out of coal investment.
The state retirement fund covers approximately 400,000 current and former public employees. More than $5 billion of the fund’s $100 billion is invested in fossil fuel companies, according to a recent analysis by Divest Oregon, a grassroots environmental and social justice coalition. This does not include investments in private equity funds, which the group does not investigate because they are not subject to freedom of information laws.
Divest and other environmental groups have been pressuring Mr. Reid for years to divest the fund from fossil fuels and stop investing in fossil fuel companies, but Mr. I responded that it was my job to guarantee that.
Reed’s net-zero plan, in partnership with global consulting firm McKinsey & Company, will generate $1.9 million in funding, according to a copy of the contract obtained by Divest Oregon volunteer Rick Pope through a public records request. It was developed at a cost of US$.
Reid’s office declined to send a draft of the net zero plan ahead of Thursday’s meeting, but did share his 11-page presentation with legislative committees. Treasury spokesman Eric Engelson said he hopes to have the plan ready for distribution by Jan. 31. The plan does not divest the state’s retirement funds of all fossil fuel holdings and investments in carbon-emitting industries, but it does invest in those companies and industries and in companies that reduce or absorb emissions. to maintain a balance with.
“It’s not that we won’t include carbon emissions in our portfolio. We do. I don’t think it’s possible to avoid it,” Reed told the committee Thursday. “What we want is a position where the Earth’s ability to absorb those emissions naturally is balanced by technological solutions.”
Reed plans to submit the proposal to the five members of the Oregon Investment Council on Feb. 6 for consideration. Mr. Reed serves on the Board of Trustees as Treasurer. After consideration by the city council, the plan will be submitted to council for consideration in February. Reed said lawmakers will meet several times before deciding whether to provide resources to implement it over the next few years.
The project’s “implementation period” is four years, starting in 2024, and the state Treasury will shift some investments from fossil fuel companies and high-emission industries to investments that help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2028. It says it’s planned. .
“I expect there’s a good chance that the next Treasurer will ask for the authority to add brainpower to do this work right under your noses and under your colleagues’ noses,” he told a legislative committee. Stated.
Mr. Reid’s term as Treasury Secretary officially ends in January 2025. He is running for Secretary of State and is currently facing Sen. James Manning (D-Eugene) in the May 21 Democratic primary. He is also running for Republican real estate broker Brent Barker.
Pope said Reid, who is now moving towards a net-zero portfolio, recognizes that some fossil fuel investments actually carry more risk than return.
“We and our treasurers now agree that climate change is a threat to PERS investors,” Pope said.
coal law
Divest Oregon supports another proposal that would shift the state’s investments away from fossil fuels by targeting coal. The Clean Oregon Assets Legislation (COAL Act) is sponsored by Rep. Khanh Pham, D-Portland. Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland; Congressman Mark Gamba (D-Milwaukee). It would direct the Treasury Department to sell the National Retirement System’s holdings in companies that mine and burn coal. Divest identified approximately $1 billion of the fund’s investments in the coal industry. Divest members visited Parliament House on Wednesday to meet with lawmakers ahead of February’s legislative session.
The law is modeled after a similar policy passed in California in 2015. The California government agency that oversees the state’s retirement fund estimates that the divestment from coal over the past eight years has added nearly $600 million to the fund’s bottom line, according to a statement. Sell Oregon.
The law’s sponsors also cited Oregon’s 2005 move to direct the Treasury Department to divest from companies doing business in Sudan following the U.S. government’s declaration that the Sudanese government was participating in genocide. It is modeled after state law.
Supporters point out that Oregon leaders voted to phase out coal as an energy source in 2016 because coal is one of the most polluting energy sources. There is. Oregon was the first state in the United States to pass a law phasing out coal. Power companies are obligated to provide coal-free electricity by 2035. Divest said the state Public Employees Retirement Fund should take similar steps.
oregon capital chronicle is part of States Newsroom, a network of newsrooms supported by a coalition of grants and donors as a 501c(3) public charity. The Oregon Capital Chronicle maintains editorial independence. If you have any questions, please contact her editor, Lynne Terry. [email protected].Follow the Oregon Capital Chronicle Facebook and twitter.
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Alex Baumhardt has been a national radio producer focused on education for American public media since 2017. She has reported from the North Pole to the South Pole for national and international media, and from Minnesota and Oregon for her post in Washington. She previously worked in Iceland and Qatar and earned a master’s degree in digital media in Spain as a Fulbright Scholar. She’s been a kayak guide in Alaska, farmed on four continents, and worked night shifts at several bakeries to support reporting along the way.
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