The New York City Retirement Systems' five pension funds hired Mercer and Trucost to make their investment portfolios more sensitive to the impact of climate change.
“There's no question climate change is transforming both our planet and the international economy,” said city Comptroller Scott Stringer, the fiduciary for the five pension funds in the $170.6 billion system, in a news release. “These advisers will help the pension funds continue to create long-term, sustainable growth for New York City's retired firefighters, police officers, teachers and other public employees.”
Jack Sterne, a spokesman for Mr. Stringer, said in an interview that each of the pension funds' boards approved the hiring of Mercer and/or Trucost.
All five pension funds chose Mercer to help them “incorporate the realities of global warming into the funds' asset allocation, manager selection and risk management processes,” the news release said.
Four of the pension funds also hired Trucost to conduct a carbon footprint analysis of their public equity investments. The Teachers' Retirement System selected Mercer for this task, which the news release described as measuring “the actual and estimated greenhouse gas emissions attributable to an investment portfolio and proportionally to its holdings.”
An RFP was issued in June. Their work is expected to be completed by year-end.
