In a nutshell, WA is really BAD with it’s $200B pension funds related to climate. Our Secretary Treasurer is only 1 voice on the 12 seat investment board. There is legislative action and more to divest these funds. There is much activity right now – try to bear with the following and do with it as you wish.From Alec Connon & others:You can also check out this piece we wrote in Common Dreams about the report, and feel free to share on your socials!Washington State Investment Board’s pathetic grades in three (screenshotted) charts from the report: Chart 1 | Chart 2 | Chart 3 Feel free to share.
350Seattle has hired a great young man to work on this – here is an earlier email
I’m so glad to introduce you to Andrew Eckels!Andrew recently joined 350 Seattle’s staff to focus on organizing for climate in our Washington State Investment Board (WSIB), which manages over 200 billion dollars (!!) in state workers’ pensions.This legislative session Andrew is focused on organizing support for passing HB 2405! This bill would change how the WSIB makes investment decisions and uses its significant power as a major shareholder to influence corporate decisions around climate action.Do you have a Washington State Pension? We’d love to connect with you!The nature of the bill is a bit wonky, but it’s one of the best ways we can pressure big banks and other corporations to take climate action, and it is a key step to protect pension returns from the serious risks that climate change poses to financial stability, and economic health.We will only be able to move this policy forward with support from unions and retirement groups who are stakeholders in the pension fund, so right now Andrew is focused particularly on organizing with people in those groups!If you are somebody who has a state pension (current or former educator, firefighter, public hospital employee, state agency employee, etc.) you can play a key role in this campaign!For more background on this effort I’d encourage everybody to read this excellent article by Alec Connon, and also check out our memo on the bill to legislators!Andrew Eckels (he/him) is an experienced organizer who has been working on fights for climate and labor justice since 2013. He is a proud union educator and a big time nerd about movement history and case studies of how ordinary people have changed the world. In recent years he has been focused on building alliances between labor and the climate movement to fight together for a green new deal. He is currently working on a campaign to push the financial system to protect worker pension funds from the major financial risks of worsening climate change
1 of 2 here
More info on WA pension
