The governing board of the $129.6 billion New York State Teachers' Retirement System, Albany, will retain investments in several oil sands companies after conducting a review under an environmental investment policy adopted by the board in December 2021.
The board, which took action at its quarterly meeting Thursday, didn't identify how many companies, the names of the companies or the amount invested.
These companies will remain on the pension system's restricted list, which affects internally managed and passive separate accounts. The board "directed staff to continue to conduct ongoing engagement, monitoring and assessment of these oil sands companies," according to the resolution approved by board members.
The restricted list covers:
- Companies that derive more than 10% of their revenue from activities related to oil sands.
- The 10 largest positions in companies that have more than 0.3 gigaton of potential carbon dioxide emissions from thermal coal reserves.
- The 10 largest positions in companies that derive more than 20% of their revenue from oil and gas, or have more than 0.1 gigaton of potential carbon dioxide emissions from oil and gas reserves.
The pension system "will maintain but not add to our current holdings (in oil sands companies) and will continue to monitor, assess, and engage," Heidi Brennan, a spokeswoman wrote in an email, adding that the system has investments in fewer than five oil sands companies on the restricted list.
"We are unable to disclose the specific names at this time due to the confidential nature of our portfolio composition decisions protected under" New York State law, she wrote.
A report by the pension system staff, presented at the Thursday meeting, recommended "continued ownership and engagement of all oil sands companies."
Based on its review, the staff concluded that the oil sands companies "are addressing climate risk and are responsive to initial engagement," the report said.
"There does not appear to be uncompensated risk associated with owning these oil sands companies."
