{"id":265215,"date":"2026-06-13T02:45:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T02:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/265215\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T02:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T02:45:07","slug":"sierra-club-welcomes-nyc-pension-search-for-asset-managers-urges-strong-climate-accountability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/265215\/","title":{"rendered":"Sierra Club Welcomes NYC Pension Search for Asset Managers, Urges Strong Climate Accountability"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Search should ensure pension mandates are awarded only to firms with credible climate-risk management and responsible stewardship.<\/p>\n

NEW YORK, NY \u2014\u00a0New York City Comptroller Mark Levine and trustees of the City\u2019s five public pension systems today\u00a0announced<\/a>\u00a0a search for asset managers to provide passive indexing services, opening a review of major pension mandates \u2014 including those currently managed by BlackRock and State Street \u2014 in which asset managers\u2019 climate-related performance should be a central consideration.<\/p>\n

The search comes as existing passive indexing contracts are set to expire by the end of 2026. New York City\u2019s pension systems hold more than $127 billion in public equity investments, with the majority invested in passive index products. The search includes index strategies based on climate or ESG factors, consistent with each system\u2019s investment guidelines.<\/p>\n

Three of the city\u2019s pension systems \u2014 NYCERS, TRS, and BERS \u2014 have adopted net-zero by 2040 implementation plans and have established climate expectations for their asset managers. In their\u00a0latest annual climate reports<\/a>, all three systems found that most of their public-markets managers were aligned with their net-zero expectations, while BlackRock remained assessed as insufficiently aligned across all three systems.<\/p>\n

The search follows a multi-year process in which the city pensions have set expectations for asset managers\u2019 climate plans, practices, and reporting. For pension systems with net-zero commitments, manager selection should be a key mechanism for enforcing those standards.<\/p>\n

In response, Ben Cushing, Director of the Sierra Club\u2019s Sustainable Finance Campaign, issued the following statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cNew York City\u2019s pension systems have set clear climate-risk standards for the asset managers entrusted with public workers\u2019 retirement savings. This search is an opportunity to put those standards into action and make clear that firms cannot keep major pension mandates without credible climate-risk management, responsible stewardship, and alignment with the pensions\u2019 long-term fiduciary obligations.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change is a systemic financial risk to the economy and the retirement security of public workers. Passive index managers still make active choices through stewardship, proxy voting, and engagement with portfolio companies. Those responsibilities should not be weakened, delayed, or treated as optional in this search. If BlackRock or any other manager wants to retain or win mandates, they should have to show that they have corrected past failures with credible, enforceable, and transparent plans \u2014 or lose business to firms that will.\u201d<\/p>\n

BACKGROUND:<\/p>\n

In\u00a0April 2025<\/a>, former Comptroller Brad Lander and the boards of NYCERS, TRS, and BERS set standards for asset managers to submit net-zero plans, and warned that managers failing to meet those standards could lose city pension business. The Sierra Club applauded that step and called on other investors to strategically leverage their relationships with asset managers to strengthen corporate engagement and proxy voting practices.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0November 2025<\/a>, former Comptroller Lander recommended that three New York City pension systems re-evaluate BlackRock\u2019s mandate to manage tens of billions of dollars in public equity assets due to the firm\u2019s inadequate climate plans. The recommendation followed a review of public-markets asset managers serving the city\u2019s pension funds and identified persistent gaps in BlackRock\u2019s stewardship approach as a central concern.<\/p>\n

In February, Sierra Club Executive Director Loren Blackford\u00a0published an op-ed in\u00a0Crain\u2019s New York Business<\/a>\u00a0urging Comptroller Levine and NYC pension trustees to continue building on the city\u2019s climate leadership by following through on key implementation priorities, including stronger asset manager accountability. The piece focused in particular on the decision facing the pension boards to follow through on the recommendation to move funds away from BlackRock over its failure to present adequate climate plans \u2014 a step that could set an important precedent for public pensions nationwide.<\/p>\n

While many U.S. pensions have strengthened climate expectations for asset managers, few have imposed consequences on mandates of this scale. Several\u00a0major UK<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0European pensions<\/a>\u00a0have already cut ties with BlackRock and other asset managers in response to climate shortcomings, underscoring the growing expectation that managers must meet clients\u2019 climate-risk standards or lose business.<\/p>\n

New York City\u2019s pensions have been national leaders in addressing climate-related financial risk. To sustain that leadership, the Sierra Club has called on Comptroller Levine and pension trustees to\u00a0continue strengthening implementation<\/a>, including by ensuring that investment managers responsible for public workers\u2019 retirement savings meet the pensions\u2019 climate-risk management standards.<\/p>\n

About the Sierra Club<\/p>\n

The Sierra Club is America\u2019s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person\u2019s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action.\u00a0For more information, visit\u00a0www.sierraclub.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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