New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is taking on the coal industry. The mayor
urged the city’s five pension funds late last month to divest from investments in coal, according to de Blasio’s office. Coal-related assets represent at least $33 million of the funds’ overall assets of $160 million.
The proposal is part of the city’s broader, long-term strategy to address climate change, the announcement says. Through increased use of renewable energy, the city aims to have the freshest air of any major U. S. metropolis by 2030. De Blasio has set an ambitious target of an 80-percent reduction in fossil-fuel emissions by 2050, his office says.
The divestment effort could expand well beyond coal. The mayor wants the pension funds to review whether other fossil-fuel investments should remain in their portfolios. De Blasio’s office will present its divestment proposal to the boards of all five pension funds in the coming months.
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This article originally appeared at Citiscope, a nonprofit news outlet that covers innovations in cities around the world. More at Citiscope.org.
