NYC Pension Funds Have Reduced Emissions by up to 27% Since 2019

The New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System and Board of Education Retirement System reduced emissions by 21%, 27% and 16%, respectively, between December 2019 and June 2022, according to climate data and analysis from the city’s comptroller’s office.

The comptroller’s office announced the pension funds are on track to meet new interim emissions reduction goals set for 2025 and 2030. The pension funds recently voted to disclose emissions as part of their implementation plans to reach net zero of greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.

The plans aim to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 32% by 2025, by 59% by 2030 and 100% by 2040. NYCERS’ plan also recently set an interim target of $4 billion worth of what it calls “climate solutions investment” by 2025 and $17 billion by 2035. Meanwhile, TRS’ plan set an interim target of $4.2 billion by 2025 and $19 billion by 2035, respectively.

The NYC Climate Dashboard, maintained by the comptroller’s office to track the city’s progress toward meeting its climate commitments, assesses how effectively it is reducing its carbon emissions and how prepared its neighborhoods are for the impact of climate change.

Each section of the dashboard includes key climate indicators, along with data on the city’s climate-related policies and programs. Features include climate finance data on emissions from the city’s pension investments, as well as map overlays of climate impacts and indicators for the city’s neighborhoods.

According to the city comptroller’s office, key climate data changes for 2023 include:

The city’s power mix has surged to 89% fossil-fuel, up from 75% in 2020, which was attributed to the closure of the Indian Point nuclear power plant;
Emissions from buildings, transportation and waste increased in 2021 after falling in 2020 during the first year of the pandemic, moving New York further away from its emissions reduction goals;
The city installed 72 megawatts of solar power in 2022 and is on pace to meet its “modest goal” of installing 1,000 megawatts of solar power by 2030 if it maintains its current rate of solar installation over the next eight years; and
Building energy scores reported a 2% increase in Energy Star Scores A and B, and a 1% decrease in D-graded buildings.

“While some of the progress ebbed and flowed over the past year, we must stay vigilant to move forward on mitigating harm and increasing the city’s resiliency in the face of rising seas and temperatures,” Louise Yeung, the New York City Comptroller’s Office’s chief climate officer, said in a release.