Press Release: New Divest Oregon Campaign Pushes State Treasury to Lead on Climate
April 10, 2022
Following a summer of record-shattering heat and extreme fires across Oregon, a statewide coalition is urging the Oregon Treasury to divest from risky fossil fuels and support a financially-sound, clean energy future.
Press Contact: Andrew Bogrand, Communications Director (abogrand@divestoregon.org)
A growing coalition of thirty-five organizations
in Oregon representing workers, environmentalists, public sector employees, and people of faith launched the Divest Oregon: Reinvest in a Fossil-Free Future
campaign urging the Oregon Treasury to end all new investments in the fossil fuel industry, disclose current fossil fuel holdings, and phase out all current investments by 2026.
“This summer, local governments received a stark reminder–if it was needed–of the deadly impact of the climate crisis,” said Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal.
“Divesting from fossil fuels sets Oregon on the path to envision new investments that promote our economy, environment, and public health; and follows in the footsteps of Oregon counties and municipalities that have already divested including Multnomah County and the City of Portland. We must divest Oregon from fossil fuels now. Our state, economy, and livelihoods depend on it.”
New research
suggests that institutional investors like the Oregon Treasury could force meaningful cuts in emissions by reallocating capital away from companies that drill for oil and gas and mine coal. The Oregon Treasury remains invested in fossil fuels despite multiple risks that could hurt returns for public sector employees, imperiling their retirements. Most of the Treasury’s holdings are in the $90 billion Oregon Public Employee Retirement Fund (PERS), which the Treasury manages.
Almost one in ten Oregonians are exposed to fossil fuel risks through pensions managed by the Oregon Treasury. BlackRock–the world’s largest asset manager–has highlighted these risks and the fundamental reallocation of capital
that is rapidly transforming energy investments: fossil-free funds are outperforming conventional ones.
“Of course I am worried about the climate crisis, but I am also worried about my PERS retirement outlook,” said Patty Hine, a retired community college professor and commander in the US Navy from Eugene.
“I don’t need to work on Wall Street to know that the fossil-fuel sector has a limited lifespan. When it comes to my money, I want Oregon to make prudent, long-term financial decisions that support the environment and all children’s futures. Divesting from risky fossil fuels and reinvesting in promising, clean energy opportunities would be a great start.”
Always volatile, coal and oil markets have become riskier as environmental regulations tighten worldwide, including in China, the U.S., and the European Union. More than 80 percent
of all new electricity capacity added last year was renewable, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency, demonstrating the world’s preference for clean fuels over dirty ones. Exxon shares have dropped by more than 25% in three years, and the company was removed from the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
“The physical impacts of climate change on the value of investments together with the changes implied by the energy transition that is already underway present a major risk for beneficiaries of public pensions, including in Oregon,” said Christopher Abbruzzese, Chief Investment Officer for Rain Capital Management in Portland.
“Pensions control more than $35 trillion in assets globally and some of the largest have already begun divesting from fossil fuels, so it’s not hard to see how this process could have systemic implications. Add to that the fact that traditional approaches to valuation and risk management are largely based on historical data, making them really bad at dealing with seismic shifts like this. You have to ask yourself if the State of Oregon has the visibility to be prudently invested in fossil fuels right now. Look at it this way: in 1847, with the advent of petroleum, the fiduciary would have had an obligation to reconsider the wisdom of investing in whalers and harpoons. If this is our 1847 moment with decarbonization, Oregon needs to get ahead of it.”
Dozens of large institutions are already going fossil free, including the University of California, with a $126 billion portfolio, and the State of New York, with a $226 billion portfolio. Last week, Harvard University
also said it has divested almost all of its $42 billion endowment from fossil fuels. In the last decade, the fossil fuel divestment movement has grown to encompass more than 1,100 government, corporate, educational, non-profit, and faith institutions
with $11 trillion in assets under management.
“There is a climate imperative for Oregon to divest from fossil fuels, and anyone who’s smelled the smoke in the air these last summers knows about that. But there is also a compelling financial reason for Oregonians to support this campaign, too,” said 350.org
co-founder Bill McKibben. “Simply put: fossil fuels are a bad investment. The energy transition is here. Major and mainstream asset managers recognize this and are looking to reinvest in sustainable energy solutions that better reflect the needs of our local economies and communities on the frontlines of this climate crisis. Oregonians need a pension to retire on, but they need a working planet to retire on too!”
Oregon Treasury's "Net Zero" Bill, HB 2081 , passed both chambers of the Oregon Legislature on June 16, 2025. This legislation directs the Oregon State Treasury (OST) and the Oregon Investment Council (OIC) to manage and report on climate-related financial risks to the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS). Introduced by State Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner, the bill intends to align PERS' investment strategies with the state’s climate goals while upholding fiduciary duties. HB 2801 is a step in the right direction for low-emission investments in the Oregon State Treasury, but it is only a first step toward addressing climate risk. Significant limitations must be addressed through Treasury policy or future legislation. Specifically:
“The statewide coalition Divest Oregon has been calling out the Treasury’s dirty investments for several years now, and they have also put out policy proposals, research, and legisl ation to shift our investments to help foster a clean energy economy.” — M Gaskill, Oregon Coast Radio Specifically, the conversation covers: The Pause Act (SB 681) which focused on new private fund investments in fossil fuel infrastructure like pipelines and LNG export terminals The Treasurer’s legislation ( HB 2081A ) on some movement toward net zero, a just transition, and reporting to the legislature and public The Climate Risk Report on the need for a paradigm shift in the Treasury’s thinking as to the financial impact of the climate, especially on public employees now in their 20’s, and the need to act together with other pension funds to direct the 11 trillion they manage toward mitigating future climate impact The addition of a fossil fuel free fund as an investment choice under the 529 College Education Plan - sign the Green529.org petition Divest Oregon’s inside/outside strategy This half-hour conversation is a terrific snapshot of Divest Oregon’s work. Find it on almost any podcast app - here are a couple: Spotify Apple Podcasts
Pension fund managers are confronting a tumultuous financial landscape. What is creating uncertainty? Inflation, tariffs, artificial intelligence, the energy transition, an oversupply of liquid natural gas, the rise of private equity and private credit… and the unique risk of climate change, which is the mother of all risks. Why is climate change an overriding risk to financial portfolios? Divest Oregon’s Rick Pope explains why in the Divest Oregon 2025 Climate Risk Review: No Place to Hide , a deep dive into current climate, economic and investment research. It stresses a core theme: The portfolio of retirement funds cannot be diversified to offset the risk of unabated climate change. There is nowhere for fund managers to hide from the fact that the entire portfolio of investments will be affected by climate catastrophe. Why is this important? Public pension funds in the US control nearly $11 trillion in assets of nearly 36 million state and local beneficiaries who depend on their funds to support their retirement. How fund managers invest the funds in their care can influence the market and influence public policy. Praise for the report from Treasurers, academics, and climate activists provides insight into the report’s impact. As the report documents, acting now to offset climate change will cost far less and harm asset values far less than accelerating climate change. Acting together, fiduciaries can move the market by investing in climate solutions, rather than financing climate destruction. How does the Climate Risk Report fit into the rest of Divest Oregon’s current work to pressure the Treasury to stop investing in fossil fuels? Divest Oregon submitted testimony in support of the current Treasurer's bill to reduce emission-creating investments in the portfolio. Oregon’s Treasurer is the first in the country to put forward a legislative mandate to consider climate risk and just transition in its investment decisions as it moves toward a low-carbon economy ( HB 2081 ). The Treasurer’s proposed legislation ( HB 2081 ) requires a just transition to clean investments. Divest Oregon and allies are working to articulate steps to implementation of this provision by the Treasury. The legislation has a reporting requirement. Transparency is an issue since approximately half of the PERS retirement fund has been invested in private investments, generally called private equity, which are currently secret. Reporting is a key tool in measuring progress toward reducing climate risk to the portfolio – and to all of us. A major part of our ongoing work is to pressure the Treasury to create a comprehensive and rigorous plan to stop the portfolio from contributing to climate degradation. Divest Oregon has a new campaign to encourage the Treasury to add a fossil fuel free option to the Oregon 529 Funds . The release of the 2025 Climate Risk Review clearly and unequivocally puts the Oregon Investment Council and the Treasury on notice that they must act to protect PERS assets from the risk of depressed values from climate change. As fiduciaries who must protect the financial well-being of their beneficiaries, their mandate is to assess risk – and climate change is an overriding risk – and factor it into their investment and resource allocation decisions. Confronting the impact of climate is the essence of their job.
Divest Oregon introduced The Pause Act ( SB 681 ), with Chief Sponsor Oregon Senator Jeff Golden’s support, to enact a five-year moratorium on new or renewed Treasury investment in private fossil-fuel funds. Why The Pause Act? For the past 50 years, the finance sector has dangerously re-written the rules of the global economy, including here in Oregon. Wealth has been extracted from our communities while our greenhouse emissions skyrocket. At the leading edge of this transformation has been the aggressive expansion of the private investment sector, generally referred to as private equity, which has over a trillion dollars in fossil fuel investments. The Oregon PERS portfolio is heavily weighted to private investments, which make up approximately half of the fund. The Pause Act is based on a key provision in past Treasurer Read’s net zero plan – which recognizes that portfolio emissions cannot be meaningfully reduced without ending new investment in long-term private funds holding fossil fuels. In the year since Treasurer Read announced his plan, to the public’s knowledge there has been no constraint on new private fund investments in fossil fuels. The Pause Act introduces transparency by requiring reporting to the public on progress under the bill. Current Treasurer Steiner has made a commitment to emission reduction of the portfolio. The Pause Act highlights the need for urgency, reflecting the impact of the climate crisis on all Oregonians and on the PERS portfolio. Why The Pause Act has no path forward When Divest Oregon asked for amendment discussions on The Pause Act with Treasurer Steiner, she said she would focus only on the Treasury’s HB 2200. That bill proposes a goal of limited emission reduction and reporting, with no mention of private investments. The Chair of the Committee hearing SB 681 offered to work with all stakeholders toward a bill acceptable to all parties. Instead, the Treasury crafted two statements in opposition to The Pause Act, and so the bill died in committee despite an outpouring of public support. This support was captured in the article from Oregon Capitol Chronicle (March 20, 2025). What did the Treasury argue in opposition to the Pause Act… and what is the Divest Oregon response? The Treasury sent written opposition to The Pause Act to key legislators and union representatives that are on the Treasurer’s Beneficiary Advisory Committee. The pre-committee hearing Treasury statement and the Divest Oregon response was distributed to the Treasury and to the recipients of the opposition statements. In a filed statement of opposition , the Treasury put forward arguments that are problematic. Divest Oregon has expressed these concerns to the Treasury as follows: While Treasury argues that SB 681 would limit diversification, SB 681 does not stop Treasury from having a diversified strategy. There is nothing in the bill that says Treasury should stop investing in private equity, real estate, or real assets – which are the major components of their private investments. Private investments are not always providing strong returns. Treasury’s testimony on returns compared private equity with public equity returns. That comparison was a selective misdirection. The Real Assets asset class, which are private investments, produces double the emissions intensity to the PERS portfolio than the Private Equity class, and yet those returns weren’t reported in their testimony. The Real Assets class actually has lower 5 & 10-year returns than Public Equity. (For more details, see the Divest Oregon full response to their testimony.)
In December 2024, the Oregon Treasury published their Oregon Net Zero Plan 2024 Annual Report . Kudos to Treasurer Read for creating a Net Zero Plan and publishing the 2024 annual report before leaving office. Treasurer Read’s strong statement that climate risk is financial risk is essential context for the report. Divest Oregon published this analysis of the 2024 annual report including the following sections: Transition Readiness Framework/Carbon Intensive Review Manager Activity/Private Investments ESG Integration/Forming Alliances and Engagement Investing in climate-focused funds Proxy Voting Stewardship and Universal Ownership Divest Oregon strongly recommends the following: The Treasury's report should be sent to all PERS beneficiaries and prominently displayed on the Treasury website. Stakeholder input should be solicited during the formulation of Treasury action in this sphere and before the publication of the next plan report.
“First-in-the-nation” Pause Act will protect Oregon retirees from private equity’s overexposure to fossil fuels
Few public pension fund trustees have adopted a plan to address the risk of climate change to their portfolio. Oregon should be applauded as one of them, yet how does Oregon’s proposed plan compare to the major net zero plans of other US public pension plans? Divest Oregon has just released a comprehensive and detailed Comparison of US Pension Funds' Net Zero Plans Report . It allows the Oregon Treasurer and the Oregon Investment Council (OIC) to see what other fiduciaries are planning, to adopt best practices, and to change OIC policy as needed. Climate change is moving fast, and the report should be used by Oregon PERS and all fiduciaries to move faster in implementing a strong plan.
The newly released 2024 Private Equity Climate Risks Scorecard & Report by our allies, Private Equity Stakeholder Project, Global Energy Monitor, and Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, gives us new insight into private equity firms and OST investments in these secret funds. Twenty-one major private equity firms manage $6 trillion in assets – and two-thirds of the energy companies in their portfolios are invested in fossil fuels. Oregon state employees’ pension plan (PERS) invests in 11 of these 21 funds.
Above: Natural coastal area of the proposed Rio Grande LNG terminal. Credit: Dylan Baddour/ Inside Climate News Below: Artist Rendering of the Rio Grande LNG project (Photo: Business Wire , 11/21/2019)
A recent article in Chief Investment Officer reported that the University of California had solid returns mostly stemming from a fund that excludes tobacco and fossil fuel investments: The University of California’s endowment and pension fund each returned more than 12% for the fiscal year ending June 30, boosting the total asset value of the university’s investment portfolio by $16 billion to $180 billion. Some $1.3 billion of that $16 billion gain came from a single S&P 500 index fund—one which excludes tobacco and fossil fuel investments—that provided the portfolio with its single biggest investment gain. We assume the OIC and Treasury would be thrilled by these types of returns, given the drag that private investments are causing to the portfolio returns, and the continuing liquidity problems of private funds. UC invests where they have a strong conviction while fulfilling their fiduciary duty. The two are not mutually exclusive: “This past fiscal year was about investing only in what we fully understand and taking full advantage of low-fee index funds guided by what we call the UC Investments Way,” said UC CIO Jagdeep Singh Bachher in a statement. “It’s about simplicity and leveraging our scale to concentrate on areas where we have strong conviction.” Bachher added that he believes the U.S. and “its resilient economy and thriving innovation ecosystem … is the best place to invest,” and the UC system has backed that up by allocating approximately 75% of its portfolio to domestic investments. We look forward to seeing the OST swiftly shift a significant portion of OPERF to index funds that exclude fossil fuels and to end any consideration of new investments in private funds that are laden with fossil fuel assets, as described in the Treasurer’s Net-Zero Plan. Collectively the country has moved past climate denial. The Oregon Treasury and the Oregon Investment Council should not get mired in solution denial . The solutions for a healthier pension and planet are available now!