Skip to main content
MENU
Subscribe
  • Subscribe
  • Account
  • LOGIN
  • Topics
    • Alternatives
    • Consultants
    • Coronavirus
    • Courts
    • Defined Contribution
    • ESG
    • ETFs
    • Hedge Funds
    • Industry Voices
    • Investing
    • Money Management
    • Opinion
    • Partner Content
    • Pension Funds
    • Private Equity
    • Real Estate
    • Russia-Ukraine War
    • SECURE Act 2.0
    • Special Reports
    • White Papers
  • Rankings & Awards
    • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
    • Top-Performing Managers
    • Largest Money Managers
    • DC Money Managers
    • DC Record Keepers
    • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
    • World's Largest Retirement Funds
    • Best Places to Work in Money Management
    • Excellence & Innovation Awards
    • WPS Innovation Awards
    • Eddy Awards
  • ETFs
    • Latest ETF News
    • Fund Screener
    • Education Center
    • Equities
    • Fixed Income
    • Commodities
    • Actively Managed
    • Alternatives
    • ESG Rated
  • ESG
    • Latest ESG News
    • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
    • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
    • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
    • Impact Investing
    • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
    • ESG Rated ETFs
  • Defined Contribution
    • Latest DC News
    • DC Money Manager Rankings
    • DC Record Keeper Rankings
    • Innovations in DC
    • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
    • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
    • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
  • Searches & Hires
    • Latest Searches & Hires News
    • Searches & Hires Database
    • RFPs
  • Performance Data
    • P&I Research Center
    • Earnings Tracker
    • Endowment Returns Tracker
    • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
    • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
    • Pension Risk Transfer Database
    • Future of Investments Research Series
    • Charts & Infographics
    • Polls
  • Careers
  • Events
    • View All Conferences
    • View All Webinars
    • 2022 Retirement Income Conference
    • 2022 Managing Pension Risk & Liabilities
    • 2022 WorldPensionSummit
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. ESG
October 22, 2018 01:00 AM

San Francisco divests 5 fossil-fuel holdings

Rob Kozlowski
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    San Francisco City and County Employees' Retirement System's board voted to divest its position in five companies as part of a six-point plan to reduce its exposure to fossil-fuel holdings, according to a board meeting video posted on the city's website.

    The $25.6 billion pension fund will divest its holdings in Apache Corp., Gulfport Energy Corp., Hess Corp., QEP Resources Inc. and WPX Energy Inc. As of June 30, SFERS had a total of $8.6 million divestible assets out of its $10.2 million in net exposure to those companies.

    The divestment comes as part of the sixth of the six-point plan the board approved in January, which called for the board to "define an approach to identifying the highest risk fossil-fuel assets; establish procedures for a 'watch list" of high-risk fossil-fuel assets; establish goals and timelines for any engagements with fossil-fuel companies under Level II engagement; outline options for a targeted, phased divestment process of high-risk assets; identify options for replacing any divested assets with lower risk, cleaner assets."

    The pension fund had about $424 million in its public markets portfolio invested with fossil-fuel companies, most of which is in separately managed accounts.

    The five companies from which SFERS' board voted to divest had "high risk of potential stranded capex, bankruptcy risk, and high-risk use of operating cash flows," Oct. 10 board meeting materials said.

    The board also approved recommendations to engage with 24 companies on its fossil-fuel-related watch list and develop a company-specific engagement plan that is "results-oriented and "setting reasonable timeframes for companies to take action on reducing their climate transition risk," according to meeting materials.

    Firms on the watch list include Exxon Mobil Corp., Occidental Petroleum, Petrobras SA, Anadarko Petroleum and ConocoPhillips, as well as Chevron Corp. and Marathon Oil Corp.

    The board also approved a recommendation to engage with the four companies in which it invests that have some thermal coal activities to seek to understand whether those companies plan to reduce or eliminate their coal assets. Those companies are Anglo American PLC, China Shenhua Energy Co. Ltd., Cimic Group Ltd., and South32 Ltd. SFERS has a total of $12 million invested in the four companies.

    Before finalizing the vote approving the recommendations, Brian Stansbury, president of the board, said he intends to push through a rule tracking all divestment actions or restrictions, on how much it is making or costing the system.

    "Had we done this a year ago, Hess Corp is up over 50% on a one-year basis and that's among the five that we're going to divest. They're up over 50%. WPAX Energy, up over 73% on a one-year basis," Mr. Stansbury said. "So these stocks that we're going to be getting rid of, had we done it a year ago we would've lost millions of dollars on. And so that's the reality that this board needs to be aware of. Someone's going to have to make up that shortfall somewhere. Please be sure we are tracking this from the date that anything passes."

    Darlene Armanino, executive assistant, referred questions to the board meeting video; Andrew Collins, director of ESG investing, did not respond to requests for further information.

    Related Articles
    San Francisco board split on staff-opposed measure to divest fossil-fuel compan…
    NYC Retirement Systems to move toward divesting fossil-fuel companies
    Fossil fuels to be history for UC investment office
    San Francisco announces $823 million in commitments
    San Francisco preps proxy-voting services search
    French fund to further curb investment in thermal coal companies
    Pensioenfonds Metaal & Techniek ditches investments in tobacco, fur, weapons
    San Francisco City & County Employees slates $192 million for alternatives
    San Francisco allocates $500 million to Select Equity Group
    San Francisco City & County Employees proxy-voting updates include gender diver…
    Chevron to pump $900 million into pension plans in 2019
    Recommended for You
    California flag blackboard CalSTRS_i.jpg
    CalSTRS backs climate, human rights proposals this proxy season
    Toby Messier
    Morningstar Sustainalytics buys Aquantix
    christopher_ailman_calstrs_2018-main_i.jpg
    CalSTRS asks SEC to include Scope 3 emission disclosures in proposed rules
    SPDR® ETF’s New Approach to Bond Liquidity
    Sponsored Content: SPDR® ETF’s New Approach to Bond Liquidity

    Reader Poll

    June 6, 2022
    SEE MORE POLLS >
    Sponsored
    White Papers
    Nearing the finish line: Ideas on end-state investing for corporate DB plans
    The Meaning of "Portfolio Intelligence"
    Credit Indices: Closing the Fixed Income Evolutionary Gap
    Forever in Style: Benchmarking with the Morningstar® Broad Style Indexes℠
    Crossroads: Politics, Inflation, & Bonds
    Is there a mid-cap gap in your DC plan?
    View More
    Sponsored Content
    Partner Content
    The Industrialization of ESG Investment
    For institutional investors, ETFs can make meeting liquidity needs easier
    Gold: the most effective commodity investment
    2021 Investment Outlook | Investing Beyond the Pandemic: A Reset for Portfolios
    Ten ways retirement plan professionals add value to plan sponsors
    Gold: an efficient hedge
    View More
    E-MAIL NEWSLETTERS

    Sign up and get the best of News delivered straight to your email inbox, free of charge. Choose your news – we will deliver.

    Subscribe Today
    June 20, 2022 page one

    Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors.

    Subscribe
    Connect With Us
    • RSS
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn

    Our Mission

    To consistently deliver news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market.

    About Us

    Main Office
    685 Third Avenue
    Tenth Floor
    New York, NY 10017-4036

    Chicago Office
    130 E. Randolph St.
    Suite 3200
    Chicago, IL 60601

    Contact Us

    Careers at Crain

    About Pensions & Investments

     

    Advertising
    • Media Kit
    • P&I Content Solutions
    • P&I Careers | Post a Job
    • Reprints & Permissions
    Resources
    • Subscribe
    • Newsletters
    • FAQ
    • P&I Research Center
    • Site map
    • Staff Directory
    Legal
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Request
    Pensions & Investments
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • Topics
      • Alternatives
      • Consultants
      • Coronavirus
      • Courts
      • Defined Contribution
      • ESG
      • ETFs
      • Hedge Funds
      • Industry Voices
      • Investing
      • Money Management
      • Opinion
      • Partner Content
      • Pension Funds
      • Private Equity
      • Real Estate
      • Russia-Ukraine War
      • SECURE Act 2.0
      • Special Reports
      • White Papers
    • Rankings & Awards
      • 1,000 Largest Retirement Plans
      • Top-Performing Managers
      • Largest Money Managers
      • DC Money Managers
      • DC Record Keepers
      • Largest Hedge Fund Managers
      • World's Largest Retirement Funds
      • Best Places to Work in Money Management
      • Excellence & Innovation Awards
      • WPS Innovation Awards
      • Eddy Awards
    • ETFs
      • Latest ETF News
      • Fund Screener
      • Education Center
      • Equities
      • Fixed Income
      • Commodities
      • Actively Managed
      • Alternatives
      • ESG Rated
    • ESG
      • Latest ESG News
      • The Institutional Investor’s Guide to ESG Investing
      • ESG Sustainability - Gaining Momentum
      • Climate Change: The Inescapable Opportunity
      • Impact Investing
      • 2022 ESG Investing Conference
      • ESG Rated ETFs
    • Defined Contribution
      • Latest DC News
      • DC Money Manager Rankings
      • DC Record Keeper Rankings
      • Innovations in DC
      • Trends in DC: Focus on Retirement Income
      • 2022 Defined Contribution East Conference
      • 2022 DC Investment Lineup Conference
    • Searches & Hires
      • Latest Searches & Hires News
      • Searches & Hires Database
      • RFPs
    • Performance Data
      • P&I Research Center
      • Earnings Tracker
      • Endowment Returns Tracker
      • Corporate Pension Contribution Tracker
      • Pension Fund Returns Tracker
      • Pension Risk Transfer Database
      • Future of Investments Research Series
      • Charts & Infographics
      • Polls
    • Careers
    • Events
      • View All Conferences
      • View All Webinars
      • 2022 Retirement Income Conference
      • 2022 Managing Pension Risk & Liabilities
      • 2022 WorldPensionSummit