Divestment resources on fiduciary duty for subnational governments

The Global Fossil Fuel Divestment and Clean Energy Investment Movement (Arabella 2016). This report summarizes global fossil fuel divestment trends and provides links to further information. Total assets under management of divesting institutions was then $5 trillion and now exceeds $6 trillion.

Trillion Dollar Transformation: Fiduciary Duty, Divestment, and Fossil Fuels in an Era of Climate Risk (Center for International Environmental Law and Mercer 2016). Written for pension fund fiduciaries, this report details the financial and legal risks climate change poses to pensions as fund returns are impacted in climate-vulnerable sectors such as fossil fuels, as well as the legal implication for fiduciary duties owed by pension fund trustees to fund beneficiaries. (Summary)

Financial Times’ Tom Sanzillo article (2018). Op-ed by Tom Sanzillo, former New York State deputy comptroller, calling for pension funds to divest from fossil fuels consistent with fiduciary duty.

Assessing the Prospective Investment Impacts of a Low Carbon Economic Transition (Mercer 2017). Prepared by Mercer, this paper presents a risk/return analysis for institutional investors of positioning investment portfolios for a transition to a low-carbon economy by shifting assets away from fossil fuels and carbon-intensive industries and to fossil-free alternatives. Mercer found that fossil fuel free and sustainable asset classes can exhibit improved expected return outcomes versus their parent asset classes under a 2°C climate change scenario. (Summary)

Divest Invest Introduction Presentation (February 2018). This slide presentation provides a high-level overview of the implications of the Paris Agreement on institutional investments, the divest invest movement, why divestment and reinvestment is prudent and fulfills fiduciary duty, and options for every asset class.