NJ’s Pension Fund Drop Tied to Fossil Fuels – We Need to Divest

Investment returns for the first 10 months of the current fiscal year are currently at -2.5% for New Jersey’s public-worker pension system. The total value of the funds dropped below $74 billion by the end of April, compared to nearly $80 billion before the start of the pandemic. Long-term investments in energy companies attributed to the poor performance of the pension fund.

“We are in a financial crisis as well as a health crisis, but New Jersey is betting against our future by investing in fossil fuels. Our pension fund lost $6 billion since the start of this year, partly due to fossil fuel investments. These stocks have underperformed for a while and have been hit hard during the pandemic, Meanwhile, clean energy stocks are moving up. We have been trying to get the state to divest for years. Not only does investing in dirty energy hurt our wallets, it hurts our lungs and undercuts the state’s clean energy progress,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “New Jersey needs to shut off its own money pipeline to investors, especially since renewables are delivering better returns than fossil fuels.”

A new study released today by the Imperial College London and the International Energy Agency found that in the U.S., renewable energy yielded 200.3% returns over 5 years versus 97.2% for fossil fuels. The International Energy Agency is predicting a 30% funding drop for oil and a 15% drop for coal during the pandemic.

“A new international study that includes the U.S. shows what we already know, that investing in renewable energy is more profitable and safer than fossil fuels. Over five years, fossil fuels performed less than half of renewable energy. During the pandemic, oil stocks are predicted to drop 30% and coal 15%. Oil barrel prices went negative during the health emergency, and Chesapeake Energy, one of the largest fracking companies, just declared bankruptcy. All of this should be a wake up call to Governor Murphy and the State Investment Council that we need to be investing in renewable energy and divesting from fossil fuels,” said Jeff Tittel. “This is even more important because renewable energy has been producing more electricity than coal during the pandemic.”

This week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled state courts are the proper forum for lawsuits alleging producers promoted petroleum as environmentally responsible when they knew it was contributing to drought, wildfires, and sea-level rise associated with climate change. This is an important hurdle in the legal fight to get major oil companies including BP Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp., and Chevron Corp. to pay tens of billions of dollars to deal with the effects of climate change.

“The fossil fuel industry is facing litigation and challenges for climate change impacts, negatively impacting the price of their stocks. Earlier this week, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that states and cities can sue fossil fuel companies for damages. This shows that fossil fuels will be facing more liability and stocks will continue to drop. We need to divest, and we should be suing fossil fuel companies to make sure they have further liability when it comes to climate change. Governor Murphy needs to protect the future of our state environmentally and financially,” said Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club. “Governor Murphy needs to put a moratorium on new fossil fuel projects in New Jersey, including the most dangerous one of all – the money pipeline.”