CalPERS to Start Green Investment Program

The board of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System gave the go-ahead for creating one of the nation’s first publicly funded green investment programs.

CalPERS will start buying up to $200 million worth of stocks in companies that develop technologies that reduce pollution or provide clean alternatives to current technologies that despoil the air or water.

State Treasurer Phil Angelides, who pushed the board to consider the green program, said he was convinced that retirees could get a good return from the investments while helping to create more high-tech jobs in California.

The CalPERS board also approved a set of principles governing standards for mutual funds that do business with the state.

-- Marc Lifsher