The California State Teachers’ Retirement System recently announced that the investment in eco-friendly technology and clean energy will be more than doubled in order to ensure compliance with the United Nation’s decision to bring down carbon emissions worldwide.

The second largest public retirement fund in the United States, holding 188 billion dollars, will increase its existing share in energy-saving business ventures to 3.7 billion dollars from the current 1.4 billion dollars in the course of the coming five years, as revealed by CEO, Jack Ehnes in a recent public statement. The buying will be done via bonds, stocks, infrastructure as well as private equity.

Global climate change

According to Ehnes, addressing the subject of global climate change has been on the agenda of Calstrs for a long time now. It is witnessing an increasing number of opportunities coming up in the area of investment in low-carbon operations, particularly with the reduction in costs of renewable technology and the strong hold of the local policies on clean energy.

There are approximately 500 million dollars already saved in the private equity portfolio of the pension fund which is dedicated to wind and solar energy projects in Europe and the United States of America. The infrastructure division holds around 200 million dollars in wind, solar and water energy production and transmission plans in Europe as well as North and South America.

Energy Bill to open gateways for Small Businesses and Homeowners

Governor Brown now has a chance to make upgrades in the area of energy saving with the signing of the Assembly Bill 1883. The passing of this bill would result in the significant reduction of the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) cost. This is essentially a tool for owners of properties to enjoy the benefits of energy saving and solar PV on rooftops for their buildings without paying any lump sum amount. They are given the option to make the payments for the investment over a period via their property tax tab.

Assembly Bill 1883 would be the result of the restructuring of the PACE process and reduce the fixed or standard transactional expenses which are part of all commercial projects. The reduction in transactional expenditure would be particularly beneficial for small businesses as a high amount of fixed dealing cost can affect the economic feasibility of minor energy upgrades.

The bill also has innovative opportunities for funding rooftop solar PV. This will allow an increased number of property owners as well as small businesses to be eligible for solar PV transactions which are cost-saving.