CalPERS Reaches $53B in Climate Solutions Investments

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System announced Monday that its commitments to climate solutions investments have surpassed $53 billion.

In total, the $522.41 billion pension fund aims to allocate at least $100 billion to climate solutions investments by 2030, through what the fund calls the $100 Billion Climate Action Plan. The goal was set as part of the fund’s Sustainable Investments 2030 Strategy, adopted in November 2023. CalPERS also aims to reduce the carbon emissions intensity of its portfolio by 50% by 2030.

“The energy transition underway represents one of the biggest investment opportunities in history,” CalPERS CEO Marcie Frost said in a statement. “We are providing the capital necessary to plant the seed for the low-carbon economy of the future.”

At inception of the strategy, the fund identified $47 billion in existing commitments to climate solutions and made another $3.6 billion in commitments over the past year, primarily in the fund’s private equity and infrastructure portfolios. CalPERS is in the process of reviewing another $3.2 billion in climate solutions investments, which could be finalized in the next few weeks and months.

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“We believe that making sound, long-term investments in climate solutions will generate outperformance while also providing the clean energy needed to meet the increased demands that people have for their homes, cars and technology,” said Stephen Gilmore, CalPERS’ CIO, in a statement.

CalPERS’ climate solutions commitments include an investment in U.K. energy provider Octopus Energy, made alongside Aware Super of Australia, committing the capital through Generation Investment Management, which is chaired by former Vice President Al Gore.