New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio called on the city’s five pension funds on Tuesday to end their investments in coal companies, demonstrating his commitment to taking on climate change.



The pension funds – whose assets total a collective $160bn – have $33m invested in coal, according to the mayor’s office.

“New York City is a global leader when it comes to taking on climate change and reducing our environmental footprint. It’s time that our investments catch up – and divestment from coal is where we must start,” De Blasio said in a statement.

This announcement follows a continued global movement to divest from coal. In June, Norway’s parliament endorsed the selling of coal investments from its $900bn sovereign wealth fund, and on 2 September, California lawmakers passed a bill requiring the state’s two largest pension plans to divest any holdings of thermal coal within 18 months.

“Coming just after news that the divestment movement has engaged institutions collectively worth $2.6tn, and the passage of California legislation that will divest the country’s largest pension funds from coal, Mayor de Blasio’s announcement is another big step adding even more momentum to this campaign,” May Boeve, executive director of the environmental nonprofit 350.org, said in a statement.

She added: “We expect to see other municipal leaders around the world take note of the Mayor’s words today, and join New York in acknowledging the financial and moral imperative to divest from climate chaos.”

The mayor also proposed that the pension funds establish long-term investment strategies for all fossil fuel investments “as New York City continues to move toward renewables and away from fossil fuels”.

According to the mayor’s office, this proposal will be presented to the five New York City pension boards over the coming months “to examine the specific impact and optimal reallocation of these assets”. The pension funds include the New York City employees’ retirement system, the teachers’ retirement system of the city of New York, the New York City police pension fund, the New York City fire department pension fund, and the New York City board of education retirement system.

“Money talks, and divesting our pension funds from investments in coal says that New York City is serious about going green,” the Brooklyn borough president, Eric Adams, said in a statement. “I look forward to reviewing Mayor de Blasio’s proposal.”

An analysis by the mayor’s office of pensions and investments found that divesting from coal posed little risk to pension fund returns, the mayor’s office said.

The administration’s latest initiative to take on climate change falls in line with the mayor’s plan to cut 80% in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and have the cleanest air of any large US city by 2030.



“We’ve set ambitious goals, including an 80% reduction in emissions by 2050, and we’re going to need every city asset helping us achieve them,” De Blasio said in a statement.