NYC comptroller Lander to end private market fossil fuel investments

By Ross Kerber

(Reuters) – New York City Comptroller Brad Lander on Tuesday outlined plans to end certain pension funds’ future private market investments in fossil fuel infrastructure over climate concerns.

If approved by fund trustees the plan would expand on prior limitations on exploration and extraction investments by barring future investments in things like pipelines and LNG terminals in funds’ private equity and infrastructure portfolios.

“Climate risk is financial risk, and we have a fiduciary duty to our beneficiaries to take that risk seriously as we make long-term investment decisions,” Lander said in a statement e-mailed by a representative.

Lander, who is running for New York City mayor, oversees a system that has been among the most aggressive in divesting from fossil fuel companies over climate concerns, a cause that has lagged with other public investment institutions.

Among other things the main New York City funds have sold out of publicly traded fossil fuel reserve owners, making them “the first sizable U.S. public pension system that has divested from both its active and passive publicly traded fossil fuel portfolio,” according to Lander’s office.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)