Dear California Teachers Association,

California is experiencing unprecedented and continuing wildfires, droughts, flooding and other extreme weather events. Yet, as the state of California burns, teachers’ and public employees’ retirement money is still being invested in climate chaos. If carbon emissions aren’t drastically cut in the next 10 years, we have no chance of avoiding more climate disasters.

The production of fossil fuels and the effects of climate change resulting from the use of fossil fuels all lead to disproportionate adverse impacts on low-income communities and communities of color. CalSTRS’ and CalPERS’ investments in fossil fuels have devastating real-world impacts on all Californians, including the students, teachers, staff, public employees, and retirees the funds are meant to serve. While the climate crisis affects all of us, it is especially harmful to young people and to the low-income communities of color where most oil and gas infrastructure is located.

The fossil fuel industry is one of the strongest forces behind the current attack on our democracy. Our pension fund should not support this socially and environmentally destructive industry.

Fossil fuel investments also put our pensions at risk. The fossil fuel industry is facing more and more political backlash, competition from clean energy sources, and accountability for the harm it has caused (including our own state's lawsuits against top fossil fuel companies). Already, fossil fuel investments have had lower returns than other stocks. A University of Waterloo study found that between 2012 and 2022 CalPERS and CalSTRS would have gained close to $10 billion dollars collectively if they had divested from fossil fuels. In the future, this effect is likely to accelerate as clean energy sources come online and fossil fuel assets become “stranded.” We are counting on our pensions to be there for us when we retire--we don't want them invested in a dying industry.

Many teachers and school staff whose retirement futures are invested by CalPERS and CalSTRS have passed resolutions calling for their pension funds to divest from fossil fuels, including the California Faculty Association, the California Federation of Teachers, associations representing higher education faculty, academic senates at California State University and the University of California, and local teachers’ unions including Los Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, Richmond, and Santa Rosa.

We urge you as a state body to come out in favor of fossil fuel divestment!