Report:

Making Washingtonians’ Money Matter: How our State Pension is Failing on Climate

March 15, 2023: The Making Washingtonians’ Money Matter report analyzes how the $192 billion Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) used its shareholder voting power to support or oppose climate-related shareholder resolutions and corporate director votes in 2022. The report analyzes WSIBs voting record in four sectors that are key to decarbonizing the global economy: the banking and insurance sectors, the fossil fuel industry, and major utility companies.

Key findings include:

  • WSIB voted against climate-related resolutions at major utility and fossil fuel companies, including a resolution that urged ExxonMobil to develop a plan to lessen its dependency on fossil fuel

  • WSIB opposed resolutions at banks and insurance companies that called on the corporations to take the actions required to limit global warming to 1.5°C

  • WSIB opposed an anti-greenwashing resolution at JPMorgan Chase, the world’s largest funder of fossil fuels

  • WSIB opposed resolutions that urged banks do more to ensure that their oil and gas clients are respecting Indigenous peoples’ rights

  • WSIB voted in favor of corporate directors at US fossil fuel companies and utilities across the board

  • Many of the resolutions opposed by WSIB were supported by its peers, including the state pension funds of New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Illinois

The report proposes nine steps that the Washington State Investment Board should take to address the climate crisis and mitigate climate-related financial risk, including updating their proxy voting guidelines, supporting climate resolutions in 2023, opposing directors who are failing to steward their company through the energy transition, engaging with State Street Global Advisors, ISS and Glass Lewis on climate change, joining the Net Zero Asset Owners Alliance, and divesting from fossil fuels.

The report was endorsed by WFSE 1495, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club - Washington State Chapter, Mazaska Talks, Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA), Divest Washington, Union of Concerned Scientists, Public Citizen, Rainforest Action Network, Stand.Earth, Oil Change International, the Sunrise Project, Reclaim Finance, and 350.org.

Press release with statements from endorsing organizations is available here.

What people are saying

“Workers care about the climate crisis. They want to work in and retire into a world in which they don’t have to worry about wildfires, smoke events, and heat waves. Our state pension fund should be keeping that in mind when making investment decisions and voting on climate-related shareholder resolutions this spring,”

- Paula Lukaszek, WFSE 1495 President

“It is appalling that the Washington State Investment Board would vote against a resolution calling on Wall Street banks to respect Indigenous rights and Free, Prior and Informed Consent. Rejecting FPIC resolutions sends the signal that the WA State Investment Board has little interest in the human, environmental and legal rights of Indigenous peoples.”



- Matt Remle Co-Founder, Mazaska Talks.



“When faced with the systemic risks of fossil fuels to our planet and economy, fiduciary duty requires the Washington State Investment Board to advocate for a just and orderly transition off fossil fuels. WSIB has consistent opportunities to protect Washingtonians’ pension returns and the climate, and it must do right by its beneficiaries and our state by supporting the critical climate and Indigenous-led shareholder proposals introduced in 2023."

- Sept Gernez, Interim Director of the Washington State Chapter of the Sierra Club.

“As a physician I am deeply concerned about the health impacts of the climate crisis. There are many direct health impacts that are happening now and that will accelerate in the near future if we fail to act. There are also indirect impacts mediated through loss of livelihood, and the financial costs of adaptation to a changing climate. The WSIB has a moral responsibility to consider the climate impacts of their investment decisions and a fiduciary responsibility to protect its members from climate-related financial risk,” 

- Mark Vossler, MD past-President and Board Member Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility

“It is shocking to me that the WSIB continues to invest a substantial portion of our pension funds in fossil fuel companies. These companies continue to expand, ignoring the fact that fossil fuel emissions are causing harm to the planet on a scale never seen before. The least WSIB should do is to use its proxy voting to support climate change resolutions at bank and insurance shareholder meetings in 2023,”



- Barbara Carey, WSIB pension member & 35-year employee of the WA Department of Ecology

“I don’t want my pension invested in fossil fuels at the expense of the welfare of my own grandchildren. In a rational world, fossil fuels have no future. Why does Washington State continue to invest in them? As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, it’s ‘moral and economic madness.’ While Washington State claims shareholder engagement is better than divestment, this report shows they don't even use their proxy vote effectively,"



- Donna Albert, former WFSE Council 28 member, WSIB pension member

“Research shows that increasing climate disasters will significantly disrupt our economy, from extreme heat causing lost wages to sea-level rise reducing property values and the tax base. The Washington State Investment Board should make wise investments on behalf of its beneficiaries and advance a safer and more just future for all by voting for climate action and Indigenous rights resolutions at the corporations it invests in this shareholder season.”



- Daniel Barad, Western States Policy Manager, Union of Concerned Scientists.

"I live here. I expect my state to be a leader in putting its money to work for climate solutions instead of fossil fuel profiteers. A vote against the climate is a vote against us and a failure. Our State Pension fund exposes Washingtonians to long term harms of climate chaos and climate related financial risk in the near term. This report should serve as a wake-up call to the WSIB to change course and use its proxy votes to protect all Washingtonians,"



- Caleb Schwartz, Policy Analyst, Rainforest Action Network

“Divestment from fossil fuels companies is an investment in our future. Pension funds must live up to their fiduciary duty, and protect pensioners and climate alike, by divesting from fossil fuels and wielding their institutional investor power for climate resolutions at banks’ shareholder meetings,”



- Amy Gray, Stand.earth Senior Climate Finance Strategist

“Climate change not only poses grave risks to all life on earth, it also poses severe risks to our economy. The Washington State Investment Board is failing to realize that, regularly voting against climate resolutions at some of the companies most responsible for exacerbating the climate crisis and environmental racism. WSIB must do better and that starts by how it votes at the shareholder meetings this spring.”

- Alec Connon, Co-Director, Stop the Money Pipeline

“We do not want our life savings and pension funds used for fossil fuel expansion and the devastation of the world our grandchildren will inherit. The damage caused by WSIB’s fossil fuel investments and opposition to climate resolutions at banks and insurance companies is already happening, and it must stop”



- Bobby Righi, Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA)