Letters to the Editor: Public pensions have a responsibility to their beneficiaries, not the environment

To the editor: The Times’ editorial board argues that California public pension funds’ ownership of fossil fuel stock “props up” the fossil fuel industry. Not true.

A business receives money from its stock only when it sells shares or uses shares for loan collateral. Investors continuing to own shares does not “prop up” a business, and a business does not receive anything when shares already in the market are traded among others.

So what is the point of divesting? If trustees of the funds believe investment returns would be improved, then that in itself is reason to do so without any “green” arguments.

The trustees of California’s public pension funds have a legal fiduciary duty to seek the best investment returns consistent with safety. That duty does not include considering “greenness,” other than how it might affect returns or risk.

David Fink, Los Angeles

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To the editor: As a retired community college history professor whose pension is handled by the California State Teachers Retirement System, I urge this fund’s divestment from fossil fuels as quickly as possible.

The energy from oil, coal and gas is simply obsolete — still in existence and capable of harming us greatly like the swinging tail of a dying dinosaur.

Solar, wind, geothermal and perhaps limited quantities of nuclear power are the future, especially given the short time the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that we have remaining to salvage a livable climate. These available renewable energies require investment, and the smart money from the pension funds of Harvard and the University of California system has already made the shift away from fossil fuels.

Business as usual with fossil fuel funds won’t work. The ominous extreme weather, mega wildfires, polluted air and sea level rise require investors to decarbonize their portfolios for stakeholders and a livable planet.

Tom Osborne, Laguna Beach