Measuring the unintended consequences of public pension fund disinvestment from fossil fuel companies

Environmentalists are pursuing new strategies to pressure major polluters to decarbonise, including calling for widespread disinvestment from companies currently in the fossil fuel business. This column presents evidence that this strategy may be misguided. Focusing on public pension funds in the US, the authors find that companies reduced their greenhouse gas emissions when stock ownership by green funds increased, and did not alter their emissions when ownership by non-green funds changed. Ownership and constructive engagement were more effective than...