NYC Comptroller Lander Proposes Excluding Fossil Fuels From Future Infrastructure, Private Equity Investments

The proposal for three New York City pension funds would expand divestment to fossil fuel reserve owners and private markets infrastructure, such as pipelines and distribution terminals.

Brad Lander, New York City’s comptroller and a fiduciary of the New York City pension system, proposed on Tuesday the exclusion from three New York City pension funds of future private markets investments in upstream and downstream fossil fuel infrastructure.

The proposal, which Lander will present to the trustees of the New York City pension system in 2025, would cease pension investments in fossil fuel infrastructure, including midstream and downstream infrastructure, pipelines, distribution facilities and liquefied natural gas terminals.

At a news conference, Lander said the divestment proposal is the first in the country for a pension fund. “That’s a big step that has not been taken by any large U.S. public pension fund, and we will have some work to do together to put it into place,” Lander said.

The five New York City pension systems—the Teachers’ Retirement System, the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, the New York City Police Pension Fund, the New York City Fire Pension Fund and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System—collectively manage $282.42 billion in assets. The pension system has nearly 800,000 beneficiaries.

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NYCERS, TRS and BERS had previously divested from fossil fuel reserve owners across their equities portfolios by 2022 and excluded upstream investments in their private assets’ portfolios in 2023. The latest proposal would be an expansion of the previous exclusions and divestments. Those three pension funds managed $206.25 billion in assets as of the end of August,

Lander, who announced in July that he will run for New York City mayor in 2025, has been among the most vocal pension leaders in favor of fossil fuel divestments. The New York City pension system was the first in the country to divest from fossil fuels, beginning the process in 2018.

In September, a panel featuring Brad Lander at the Council of Institutional Investors’ fall conference was interrupted by climate protestors, who criticized the comptroller for allegedly not doing enough to divest fossil fuel investments.