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Did you know that public pensions — the institutions that manage the retirement accounts for teachers, firefighters, and other public servants — are helping finance the climate crisis with workers’ retirement savings?
These pensions are some of the biggest investors in the country, so where they invest matters. Right now, they're using retirement savings to finance Big Oil, other polluters, and greenwashed “climate solutions” that don’t actually cut pollution. That means workers’ hard-earned savings are being used to prop up the industries driving the climate crisis, instead of protecting their future.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Pensions could be part of the solution, investing in ways that secure workers’ retirements and support a safe, livable planet.
That's why the Sierra Club is calling on public pensions to adopt our Climate Solutions Investment Principles — commonsense guidelines that direct money into real climate solutions like clean energy, good union jobs, and resilient communities.
- Take action: Add your name now to demand that public pensions invest in a livable future. (If you are a public pension member, please include that in your personal message!)
We are already facing (and paying for) the impacts of climate change. Not only do we face threats to our homes from storms and flooding, but rising temperatures are raising the cost of food, utility bills, and more.
There’s a growing body of research that shows climate change isn’t just an environmental threat, it’s a financial one. The projected financial impacts of the climate crisis means upending the economy and devaluing investments, directly threatening workers' retirement savings. The long-term security of our retirement savings depends on the stability of the economy, which in turn depends on the health of the environmental and social systems that underpin it. To safeguard our ability to retire, we need to decarbonize our economy, and that requires making investments in clean energy and other climate solutions.
Investing in clean, renewable energy isn't just the right thing to do for our planet. It also makes financial sense.
Pensions have a fiduciary duty not only to avoid losses from climate risks, but also to seek out investment opportunities. Credible climate solutions can deliver stable, long-term returns that protect workers’ retirement savings in the long run.
Without redirecting capital toward things like clean energy technologies, green manufacturing, and zero-emissions transportation, pensions risk underinvesting in the energy transition and missing out on the growth that the clean energy economy will generate for decades to come.
Right now, we're seeing the Trump administration roll back 50 years' worth of environmental protections. We can and must fight back in every way possible, and that includes investing public funds and retirement savings in ways that protect the planet and our retirement portfolios.
Public pensions have an obligation to protect workers' savings for the long term. If enough of us take action now, we know we can move public pensions to invest in our future.