CalPERS on Thursday became one of the initial signatories to a new global carbon pledge, committing to measure and publicly disclose the carbon footprint of its investment portfolio, said Brad Pacheco, spokesman for the $298 billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System, Sacramento.
The pension fund is one of several retirement funds that have signed the commitment known as the Montreal Protocol, committing to map their carbon footprint in their investment portfolio.
Other initial participants include France’s €16 billion ($20.4 billion) public-sector pension fund L’etablissement de Retraite Additionnelle de La Fonction Publique, Paris, and C$400 million (US$360 million) Montreal-based Batirente, a defined contribution plan.
The pledge commits CalPERS and the other funds to map the carbon footprint in their key investment portfolio, starting with equities, by December 2015.
CalPERS has already committed to taking into account environmental, social and governance factors in making its investment decisions, but the pension fund has rejected calls to divest itself from fossil-fuel stocks.
