SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
New York State Teachers Pension Fund Increases Coal Investments to Over $300 Million
Despite the climate crisis and the coal industry’s decline, NYSTRS’ investments in coal increased by 6.2 million shares and $70.5 million in fourth quarter of 2020 new report finds.
Albany, NY
A new report released today shows that the New York State Teachers' Retirement System (NYSTRS) has more than $300 million invested in companies with substantial coal reserves. NYSTRS owns stocks in 36 companies on the Carbon Underground Coal 100 List and increased their investments in 24 of those same companies by a total of 6.2 million shares as recently as the last quarter of 2020. This includes an addition of 1.1 million shares of the Chinese coal company, Shaanxi Coal Industry Co, that has the second largest coal reserves in the world estimated to represent 27.8 gigatonnes of CO2 emissions, more than five times the annual CO2 emissions of the United States.
The expansion of NYSTRS' investments in the dirtiest fossil fuel companies flies in the face of increased recognition that these fuels represent unprecedented financial and climate risk and are set to decline even further under recent modeling released by the International Energy Agency. The chief of the IEA last week called fossil fuels "junk investments".
"As a recent public school teacher, I can tell you just how devastating it is to work so hard every day to protect our community's future and its children, only to have your pension invested in an industry that's actively harming that future and those children. The fact that coal is also such a financially risky investment of already under-paid teachers' pensions adds more insult to injury." said Senator Jabari Brisport, lead Senate sponsor on the Teachers' Fossil Fuel Divestment Act (S4783A/A6331A). The Act would force the pension fund to responsibly divest from coal within 1 years and from all fossil fuels within 2 years.
"In a time of rapidly increasing global temperatures reaching levels that can lead to runaway climate change, we are all being called on to play a role in reducing our collective greenhouse gas production. Continuing to invest in oil and gas companies and companies that are based on significant coal production and consumption no longer makes fiscal sense and puts the future of our youth at stake. The bill I have introduced with Senator Brisport requiring the NYS Teachers' Retirement System to divest $4 billion from fossil fuel companies, including $311 million from coal is an investment in the future teachers are working so hard to build." said Assembly Member Anna Kelles, who is Assembly lead sponsor of the Teachers Divestment Act which now has more than 62 sponsors.
NYSTRS has over $120 billion in assets making it the second largest pension fund in New York State and one of the ten largest in the country. The New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF) that is overseen by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is the largest New York pension.
Comptroller DiNapoli divested the CRF from 22 coal companies in July 2020 as part of his Climate Action Plan. "Investors who fail to face the risks and seize the opportunities presented by climate change put their portfolios in jeopardy," DiNapoli said in his press release announcing the coal review and divestment process. "We are assessing minimum standards for transition readiness at coal mining companies first, because they face the greatest risk as the world turns to cleaner and renewable energies." Most recently, the CRF divested from oil sands companies and is now reviewing shale oil and gas investments.
Out of the 22 coal companies that Comptroller DiNapoli divested from, NYSTRS still owns stocks in seven of them worth $9.6 million. NYSTRS' investments in 5 of these seven companies increased in the last quarter of 2020.
"The blindfold needs to be taken off. We are far too deep into the climate crisis to be taking steps backwards. My teachers who are working tirelessly to cultivate my mind for the future should not be receiving their pension funds from the investments made in the destruction of my future," said Mandy Berghela, a high school student and member of the New York Youth Climate Leaders.
Teachers have expressed support for divestment. Sixteen NYSUT locals submitted resolutions calling on NYSTRS to divest including the statewide UUP, PSC CUNY, Buffalo, Albany and Troy locals. These resolutions were sent to NYSUT's general assembly. Last year, NYSUT passed a resolution in support of divestment. NYSTRS, which has over 434,000 members and beneficiaries, is under the oversight of the State Legislature. It has an estimated $4.5 billion in fossil fuel holdings.
New York's climate law requires net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In addition to the CRF's commitment to divest from risky coal, oil and gas companies, three of five New York City pensions, including the NYC teachers, are currently divesting $4 billion from fossil fuels. Governor Cuomo has directed public authorities with assets valued at over $40 billion to divest from fossil fuels. Yet the NYS Teachers Retirement System (NYSTRS) has neglected to develop a divestment plan or any type of climate action plan.
Across the world and here in New York State, more than 1,300 institutions with assets over $14 trillion including over 300 pension funds and governments have committed to divest from fossil fuels. Both the American Federation of Teachers and NYS United Teachers have passed resolutions in favor of divestment.
The report can be downloaded here
Additional Quotes:
"Coal has been one of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis we are confronting today. Coal's financially lucrative days peaked years ago. Continuing to invest and even increasing investments in the dirtiest fossil fuel is simply unacceptable and must stop now. The fiduciaries of NYSTRS are complicit in contributing to climate catastrophe by choosing to invest New York State's public school teachers' retirement fund in coal. Investing in any other sector besides fossil fuels would yield more money for the pension. NYSTRS must divest from coal now." - Barbara Pal, Divest NY Coalition Coordinator, VicePresident of 350NJ-Rockland, Co-Chair of Divest NJ
"NYSTRS' investment in coal and other fossil fuels allows these companies to profit from products that are jeopardizing all life on this planet. And, as Divest NY's coal report shows, these investments represent an unacceptable financial risk to the retired teachers who have entrusted NYSTRS to responsibly invest. NYSTRS's investment in coal is morally unacceptable and violates its fiduciary responsibility to retired teachers. The Interfaith Climate Justice Community of WNY calls on NYSTRS to follow the lead of NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli who has divested the Common Retirement Fund of its coal holdings on environmental and fiduciary grounds," said Sister Eileen O'Connor and Roger Cook, ICJC Co-conveners
"Divestment works -- just ask leading scientists, economists, investors, or fossil fuel companies themselves. Not only is it the prudent financial choice, given the industry's longstanding financial underperformance and future risk. It's the moral imperative, given the immense racial, social, and economic injustice that accompanies a warming world." said Connor Chung, a student and organizer with Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard.
"As the climate crisis continues to accelerate, and as fossil fuels become more and more obsolete everyday, divestment is absolutely necessary for the protection of life on earth as well as providing a sustainable future for the youth of today," said Matt Oill, member of Divest NY and the New York Youth Climate Leaders.
"As a teacher I am concerned about the future of my students, AND I'm concerned about the financial stability of my retirement fund. If Comptroller DiNapoli believes it is financially irresponsible to invest in fossil fuels why is my pension fund still invested?" said Lauren Kirkwood, a teacher and Divest NY member.
"With the state pension fund already showing leadership by divesting from coal and oil sands companies, citing increased risk, it makes no sense for its sister fund, the Teachers fund, to remain invested in these same companies and industries. It's time for the Teachers fund to enter the 21st century and stop invested in the fuels of the 19th century," said Richard Brooks, Stand.earth's Climate Finance Director.
"As the world moves away from and replaces coal projects with renewables and banks and insurance companies decide to stop investing and underwriting coal, it seems almost unbelievable that NYSTRS is increasing its holdings in coal. The fiduciaries are betraying their obligation to achieve acceptable risk for their members and retirees. Teachers, demand that your pension divest from coal immediately and oil and gas thereafter. Stranded assets won't fund your retirement!" said Tina Weishaus, Co-Chair of Divest New Jersey
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
LATEST NEWS
Georgia Gov. Calls Special Session to Rig US House Map for GOP, SC Expected to Follow
"We will not sit back and watch while Gov. Kemp takes orders from a felon-in-chief to turn Dr. King's dream into a nightmare," said the head of Common Cause Georgia.
May 13, 2026
Republican state leaders are forging ahead with President Donald Trump's campaign to rig congressional districts for the GOP, with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday signing a proclamation for a special legislative session and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster expected to make a similar announcement soon.
While GOP policymakers facing pressure from Trump have pursued mid-decade redistricting in several states ahead of the November midterm elections—in which Democrats aim to reclaim majorities in both chambers of Congress—Kemp's proclamation explicitly states that any changes in Georgia would be for 2028, which is the next presidential cycle.
Kemp's proclamation cites the US Supreme Court's decision last month that a Louisiana map predating Trump's redistricting push was "an unconstitutional racial gerrymander," which gutted the remnants of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965.
In a statement condemning the proclamation, Common Cause Georgia director Rosario Palacios pointed to the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a key figure in the movement that led to the VRA as well as the Civil Rights Act the previous year.
"We will not sit back and watch while Gov. Kemp takes orders from a felon-in-chief to turn Dr. King's dream into a nightmare. Too many civil rights leaders have done work in our state for us [to] take this sitting down," Palacios declared. "Common Cause is mobilizing thousands of people to stop state lawmakers from passing any new maps before 2030 that destroy Black voters' power for political gain. Voters should not have to rely on lawsuits to protect their right to fair representation. Congress must end this abuse once and for all so every voter can cast a ballot in free and fair elections, no matter their political party."
US Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), who is up for reelection in 2028, similarly ripped the Georgia redistricting effort on social media Wednesday: "There is an extreme movement in this country that will stop at nothing to hold on to power, even if it means stripping representation away from millions. I will fight this with everything I have."
Republicans in various states have moved to "shamelessly capitalize" on the April ruling from the high court's right-wing supermajority. On Monday, as the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Alabama GOP to rescind the creation of its second Black-majority district, Memphis voters sued over a new map targeting Tennessee's only majority-Black congressional district.
On Tuesday, as the Missouri Supreme Court declined to strike down a new congressional map that state voters are working to challenge with a referendum, five Republican South Carolina senators joined Democrats in blocking a GOP effort to advance Trump's gerrymandering campaign in their state.
However, The Post and Courier's Nick Reynolds reported Wednesday that South Carolina Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey (R-25) believes the governor "will call legislators back into a special session amid the redistricting fight."
Also reporting on the anticipated move Wednesday, Politico's Andrew Howard and Alec Hernandez noted that "McMaster's plan—confirmed by four people familiar with the decision, who were granted anonymity to share private details—is a reversal of his position earlier this month and follows pressure" from the president and his allies.
A redistricting push in South Carolina is expected to target the seat held by Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn—who last month warned that the Supreme Court ruling on Louisiana's map and the VRA "threatens to send our country deeper into the thicket of never-ending redistricting fights, with repeated aggressive map redraws, protracted legal battles, and relentless partisan tugs-of-war, all of which are destined to result in more regressive court decisions."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Report Details How Trump Did Big Tobacco’s Bidding on Flavored Vapes Despite Risk to Kids
"Trump could not care less about the health consequences and costs of giving teenagers access to addictive flavored poison if it means his tobacco industry donors can make record profits," said one public health advocate.
May 13, 2026
The resignation of a pair of top health officials in the Trump administration this week has brought to light efforts by the president to help Big Tobacco executives and lobbyists sell addictive flavored e-cigarettes that could be marketed to children.
On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new guidance allowing cigarette makers to begin marketing and selling fruit- and candy-flavored vape products on store shelves, which were banned under previous administrations due to evidence that they were driving youth vaping.
The policy was enacted despite the strong opposition of then-FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, who resigned on Tuesday, reportedly because he could not in good conscience support it.
Makary's resignation was followed by the departure of Rich Danker, the chief spokesperson for Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who similarly warned that the policy "would appeal to children and expose them to nicotine addiction, lung damage, and higher risk of cancer" in a letter addressed to Trump on Wednesday.
Danker did not blame Trump for the policy in his letter; instead, he attributed it to "senior HHS officials in the immediate office of the secretary."
This is despite the fact that The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Trump had personally berated Makary over his hesitation to enact the policy and had signed off on a plan to fire him.
A New York Times report on Wednesday confirms the extent of Trump's direct involvement in strong-arming the FDA into enacting the policy. It found that he pressured higher-ups in HHS to move the policy forward amid a tongue-lashing from tobacco industry lobbyists and executives angry that they could not get in on the highly profitable sale of fruit- and candy-flavored vapes. Despite being illegal and mostly imported to the US from China, these vapes make up about 60% of the total e-cigarette market.
Trump, who ran in 2024 on a pledge to "save vaping" as part of an effort to appeal to young voters, has raked in huge sums of money from the tobacco industry. According to data from OpenSecrets, his inaugural committee took over $3 million from vaping special interests, including $1.25 million from the Vapor Technology Association, and $1 million apiece from Altria and Breeze Smoke.
Altria, which owns Marlboro maker Philip Morris, and Reynolds American, which owns Lucky Strike and Camel, have also offered donations to Trump's $400 million White House ballroom project. Reynolds, the biggest producer of menthol cigarettes, also gave $10 million to the super PAC backing Trump in 2024.
According to The New York Times, executives for Altria and Reynolds were turning the screws on Trump over lunch at his golf club in Jupiter, Florida, in early May because they were "unhappy with the way the Food and Drug Administration was regulating their industry."
Trump interrupted the conversation to call up RFK Jr. and Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and complained to them about the FDA's regulation of e-cigarettes.
Within a week, the new policy had been enacted, and its leading opponent, Makary, was gone. He has since been replaced by Kyle Diamantas, whom the healthcare advocacy group Protect Our Care described as "a 30-something lawyer whose qualifications for such a critical public health role seem to begin and end at being Donald Trump Jr.’s 'hunting buddy.'”
"Donald Trump’s fury at FDA head Makary was motivated by gross political opportunism and fat checks from the big vape industry," said Jeremy Funk, the deputy director of Protect Our Care's Public Health Watch team. "Trump could not care less about the health consequences and costs of giving teenagers access to addictive flavored poison if it means his tobacco industry donors can make record profits."
While youth vaping is at a 10-year low, about 1.6 million middle and high school students were estimated to use vape products in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey. Nearly 90% of them said they used fruit and candy-flavored vapes.
Dr. Jerome Adams, a physician and professor at Purdue University, said in a post on social media that the rise of vaping has fueled a rebound in nicotine usage among college-aged adults.
"Youth combustible cigarette smoking was already at an all-time low and consistently dropping before vaping came on the scene. There is literally no reason to believe that the majority of young people who are now vaping would have otherwise been smoking combustible cigarettes," he said. "Amongst college-age and young adults, nicotine use is going back up to incredibly high rates—largely due to vaping."
The new policy enacted by the FDA has so far only authorized the sale of flavored products by one company, the Los Angeles-based Glas Inc., which will be allowed to sell vapes in flavors like mango and blueberry under names like "Gold" and "Sapphire."
The FDA sought to assuage fears of underage use by pointing to the Glas' digital age-verification system, which requires the product to be connected to the Bluetooth of a phone owned by a person over the age of 21. However, it is expected that, especially amid industry pressure, more companies will have their products approved soon.
Kayla Hancock, director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project, said that while Makary had a "terrible record" as FDA commissioner, having taken actions that slowed vaccine development and launched dubious, politically charged "reviews" of abortion pills long found to be safe, "apparently, it wasn’t terrible enough for Donald Trump."
"Hesitating to approve flavored vapes and not put American teens on a fast-track to lifelong addiction to harmful nicotine products is the bare minimum anyone could hope for from the Trump FDA," she said. "But that was a bridge too far for Donald Trump, who sees young people as disposable political pawns that he can appeal to with poison while lining the pockets of his big vape donors."
She said the ouster of Makary and his replacement with Diamantas "all but guarantees an FDA further consumed by chaos and driven by the wish lists of special interests that want profits put before public health."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Fetterman and Senate GOP Confirm Trump 'Sock Puppet' Warsh as Fed Chair
"Warsh's confirmation is another step in Trump's attempt to take over the Fed. That's not good for working families—it's good for Wall Street," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
May 13, 2026
The US Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm Kevin Warsh, the financier picked by President Donald Trump to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) joined with all Senate Republicans in voting to confirm Warsh, whose nomination was opposed by all other Senate Democrats except for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), who did not vote.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent thanked Republican senators and Fetterman for backing Warsh's confirmation, which he predicted would "usher in a new day at an institution that is in need of accountability, sound policy guidance, and the renewed sense of purpose to help guide our economy."
Warsh's nomination has been controversial from the start given that Trump has repeatedly undermined the US central bank's independence by browbeating outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to lower interest rates.
After the confirmation vote, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) warned that Warsh would try to carry out Trump's demands to lower rates, even as key metrics show that inflation has accelerated in recent months thanks to the president's illegal war with Iran.
"Trump wants to control interest rates, and he nominated Kevin Warsh to be his sock puppet," wrote Warren in a social media post. "Warsh's confirmation is another step in Trump's attempt to take over the Fed. That's not good for working families—it's good for Wall Street."
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he voted against Warsh's nomination because "working families are struggling more than ever to afford basic goods," and "they need a central bank that will fight for them, not the president and billionaires."
"I am not convinced that Warsh has the willingness to do what is best for the American people," Durbin added. "For that reason, I voted no on his nomination."
While Trump may want Warsh to start slashing interest rates to boost the economy, he likely faces an uphill climb in convincing other Fed board members.
Data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics this week showed the consumer price index posted a year-over-year increase of 3.8%, the highest rate of inflation since May 2023, driven by energy prices that surged nearly 18% from the year before.
Additionally, the latest producer price index, which measures wholesale prices paid by businesses and is considered a strong predictor of future inflation, posted a year-over-year increase of 6% in April, indicating inflation will likely accelerate in the coming months.
During Powell's final meeting as Fed chair last month, the board voted to hold interest rates steady, with several board members indicating opposition to projecting future rate cuts in the near term given signals of rising inflation.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular