Statement of Thomas DiNapoli: As your State Comptroller, I want to update you on some of the important work we are doing to address climate change. As Trustee of New York State’s $178.6 billion pension fund, I do everything I can to safeguard the funds that pay our retirees’ pensions by reducing risks to our investments–and climate risk is one of the greatest threats to our investments across the board.
As a major investor, we regularly ask companies in our portfolio to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, to seek out alternative energies, and to report back to shareholders on what they’re doing to protect their businesses from climate change and adapt to a lower carbon future.
Today I announced some recent agreements with companies that are to be commended for taking steps to protect not only their bottom lines, but our investments as well. Their actions will benefit their long-term profitability. These agreements are just part of all the steps we are taking to confront climate risk.
Aside from asking corporations to improve their environmental practices, we are investing in the growing lower carbon global economy by shifting investments to companies that can provide strong returns and have lower emissions than their peers. To date, the New York State Common Retirement Fund has committed $5 billion toward sustainable investments.
We’ll continue to use our strength as an investor and call on our publicly held companies to plan ahead and address climate change now for the benefit our pension fund’s members and our environment.