Ep 99: Anne Simpson, Director of Board Governance & Strategy at CalPERS

In today’s episode, we cover:

• What is CalPERS, its origins and its mission?
• How its priorities and concerns about climate change is rooted in its fiduciary responsibility to pensioners current and future
• Anne’s career at CalPERS and early work focusing on corporate governance
• What CalPERS learned from the 2008 financial crisis and how it informs its perspective and priorities regarding climate change
• CalPERS’ ten “Pension Beliefs” that define its investment strategy
• How being a longterm investor is both an advantage and a responsibility
• Avoiding the curse of short-termism and how simply following the money isn’t sufficient
• How CalPERS views types of capital beyond the financial
• How Anne developed a strategy for sustainable investment
• CalPERS’ top three sustainability factors (diversity & inclusion, demographics and climate change)
• The role CalPERS plays as a climate change advocate
• How it leverages its shareholder position to influence companies to be in accord with The Paris Agreement
• Research done to better understand the portfolio’s contributions to emissions
• Work performed to assess climate-risk among CalPERS’ assets
• The fund’s emissions commitments over the next thirty years
• The double-edged sword of divesting from companies not meeting climate goals

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

• CalPERS: https://www.calpers.ca.gov/
• CalPERS Pension Beliefs: https://www.calpers.ca.gov/docs/board-agendas/201702/pension/item7-01.pdf
• Climate Action 100+: http://www.climateaction100.org/
• The Investor Agenda: https://theinvestoragenda.org/

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant