Why Divest?
Climate change poses a financial risk to our State’s public pension funds.
The climate crisis is unfolding more quickly than scientists have expected, with:
faster warming
more severe weather events
more rapidly approaching tipping points
Economists and actuaries warn that the impacts of climate change are much worse and happening much faster than financial models are predicting. They find that these models do not account for tipping points, nor the severe price adjustments that reflect the climate risk.
Why pension funds?
Pension funds are the world’s largest asset owners and among the biggest investors in fossil fuels. If you add the numbers up, we are looking at hundreds of billions of dollars in public funds that are used to finance climate destruction.
Can divestment campaigns win?
In 2021, Maine became the first jurisdiction in North America to pass legislation mandating its treasury and state pension fund divest from fossil fuels.
New York State divested its $245 billion pension fund from tar sands companies.
New York City is ridding 3 of its pension funds of all fossil fuel investments.
Minnesota and Oregon have passed legislation divesting from coal.
California, New Jersey and other states have divestment legislation in the works.
Illinois could be next
Our Illinois pensions have more than $3.5 billion invested in fossil fuels.
This figure is based primarily on investments that are public, and therefore underestimates the funds' total investment in fossil fuels. Their private investments are shielded from public disclosure, so pensioners and Illinois taxpayers cannot know the full extent of their investment in fossil fuels.
Our elected officials need to know that we won’t let our retirement funds be complicit in accelerating climate chaos.
Which Illinois pension funds?
The 5 state public pension funds are:
State Universities Retirement System (SURS)
Teachers' Retirement System (TRS)
State Employees Retirement System (SERS)✳
General Assembly Retirement System (GARS)✳
Judges Retirement System (JRS)✳
✳ The last 3 funds are controlled by the Illinois State Board of Investments (ISBI).
Read more about the risks of investing in fossil fuels.