#Energy A state senator in Vermont wants to take a stand against climate change by having the state's pension funds divest of all companies involved in the production of fossil fuels. Sen. Anthony Pollina supports bills pending in the House and Senate requiring Vermont's public pensions, which cover teachers and state and municipal employees, to sell all investments in companies that extract, produce or refine oil, natural gas, coal or other fossil fuels. Pollina told the Associated Press:
Here's another way to look at it: you care more about climate change than you care about your responsibilities to your employees. Pensions are not supposed to be ideological vehicles. They have one purpose: to generate returns to pay for the retirement of state employees. Pension managers have an obligation to meet those responsibilities, and ignoring the returns of energy companies would run counter to those duties.http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorensteffy/2013/11/25/will-vermonts-pensions-be-greener-without-fossil-fuels/ http://bit.ly/15KdByZ
If in fact as a state we have a commitment to combating climate change, and if we have a commitment to moving toward renewable energy … it’s very contradictory that we would then be investing our dollars in fossil fuel industries that actually lead toward climate change.
Here's another way to look at it: you care more about climate change than you care about your responsibilities to your employees. Pensions are not supposed to be ideological vehicles. They have one purpose: to generate returns to pay for the retirement of state employees. Pension managers have an obligation to meet those responsibilities, and ignoring the returns of energy companies would run counter to those duties.http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorensteffy/2013/11/25/will-vermonts-pensions-be-greener-without-fossil-fuels/ http://bit.ly/15KdByZ
No comments:
Post a Comment