Divest Washington State's Public Employees Retirement System

Image credit: Stefan Bumbeck

Washington State’s Public Pension system manages $125.6 billion in retirement trust fund assets. It’s one of the most stable and successful public employee retirement systems in the country, and that money gives the state a massive say in capital markets. Yet Washington State isn’t leveraging that money as we should be; by divesting public employee pensions from the fossil fuel industry, we can both protect our planet and invest in renewable energy while also shielding state employees from a declining industry. Washington State public employees should not have their retirements tied to an industry that profits off of worsening our world’s condition.

It’s been six years since state employees began petitioning the Washington State Investment Board to divest from fossil fuels. In that time, the decline of the fossil fuel industry has drained hundreds of millions of dollars from public employee pension funds while awareness of the acuteness of the climate crisis has increased. Clean energy is cheaper than ever, and fossil fuels are not only bad for our environment, they’re a losing bet in the long run as well as the short term.

By divesting Washington State pension funds from fossil fuels, our state can be at the forefront of this change.  We can accelerate the adoption of renewable energy by putting public pressure on the companies currently involved in fossil fuel extraction to invest instead in renewable energy or lose access to the more than $125 billion managed by the Washington State Investment Board.

Our climate crisis makes the transition away from fossil fuels to a clean energy future an urgent priority, and Washington state is failing to use the tools we have available to help lead this transition. In 2015, clean energy investment outpaced fossil fuel investment globally, and this trend has shown no signs of stopping, accelerating each year.  Washington State needs to join the clean energy revolution and be at the forefront of building the new green economy by aligning our public and private investments towards a just and rapid transition away from fossil fuels. By doing so, we can align our state with the goals we espouse—addressing our climate crisis through accelerating affordable clean energy and providing economic opportunity for all.

Divestment from fossil fuels matches the commitment our state has made as a leader of the We Are Still In Coalition — states, cities, and businesses committed to the Paris climate accords which President Trump has pulled the US out of. Continuing to invest our state pension funds in fossil fuels is a clear violation of our commitment to the goals of the Paris Agreement. As part of our state’s commitment to addressing the climate crisis we need a Green New Deal; and that must include divestment. 

We have no time to waste: wildfires are worsening, storms are intensifying, and temperatures are rising. The Quinault Nation has been forced to move to higher ground due to sea-level rise and storms; they will not be the last. Our oceans are acidifying, threatening the northwest’s biodiversity and the local economies and cultures that depend on shellfish, salmon, and more. All of these devastating effects—and the toxic clouds of smoke that have worsened COVID-19 infection and trapped millions of people across the west coast inside—are made worse by carbon pollution from fossil fuels.

The fossil fuel industry—coal, oil, and gas—has a business model that relies on the burning of these destructive fuels. Their stock prices rise as environmental protections are destroyed, and the Trump administration has contributed to a growing bubble in the fossil fuel economy. These struggling fossil fuel businesses and those propping them up are the last gasps of the carbon economy. Economists worldwide have compared the potential impact of that bubble bursting to the risks of the sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2007. Just this summer, a letter signed by more than 100 economists warned of the lack of stability of this carbon economy and the need for a just transition to a green economy.

There is simply no future where fossil fuels will be positive for our pension funds or our planet. Strong investment returns will only be had from fossil fuels in a dystopian future of unchecked climate crisis and suffering, which will reverberate across the fund, damaging every other industry. That’s not a future any of us should want to live in or want our kids to live in.

It’s past time; Washington State needs match our actions to our words and divest from fossil fuels.