An oil shale project, the type of energy production the New York state pension fund will no longer invest in. | National Archives at College Park
An oil shale project, the type of energy production the New York state pension fund will no longer invest in. | National Archives at College Park
The State of New York's pension fund will be disinvesting from shale oil and gas companies, the state comptroller says.
The State of New York's pension fund will specifically be divesting $238 million in stock and debt that is spread across 21 shale-based oil and gas firms. According to Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, the move was made because the targeted companies have not done enough to prepare, or transition, to a low-emissions economy.
"To protect the state pension fund, we are restricting investments in companies that we believe are unprepared to adapt to a low-carbon future," DiNapoli said in a statement sent by a spokesman, as reported by Reuters.
The pension fund is the third-largest in the United States. According to DiNapoli, the next step is to review investments in integrated oil companies.
A review discovered that the companies being sold in the divestment continue to put money steadily into high-risk and very expensive assets, a spokesman for DiNapoli's office confirmed in an email sent to Reuters.
The divestment comes as oil and gas stocks lead market gains on the back of higher commodity prices and reduced spending. Hess and APA Corp., two companies the fund will be divesting from, are among the top 10 performers in the S&P 500 index this year. All 10 of said top performers are oil and gas companies.
Unlike the Empire State, California, often at the forefront of green-energy initiatives, is not considering disinvesting in oil and shale production.
"When you divest you don't solve climate change, you don't solve the issues" Simiso Nzima, California's managing director of global equity, said in an interview with Reuters on Feb. 10.
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