About Us
The Clean Energy Investment Working Group (CEIWG) was formed by a committed group of institutional investors as a forum to examine opportunities and strategies for investment in clean energy and climate technologies. The working group is managed as a collaboration between Ceres’ Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) and the Clean Energy Group (CEG).
This working group will explore the interests of pension funds, institutional investors and other fiduciaries in developing enhanced, environmentally responsive investment strategies in the clean energy subsector that can deliver competitive returns to participating investors.
Interested participants have been exploring ways to reduce the environmental and associated financial risks to their portfolios and to enhance long-term investment returns by looking beyond the important current conversations about climate risk to consider the possibilities of making prudent investments in appropriate clean energy and climate change-related technologies.
CEIWG Participants
We are seeking interested participants to join this Clean Energy Investment Working Group. To date, working group participants have convened via teleconference. Participants have included the following investment officers and representatives:
- American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employee Pension
- International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers pension
- Laborers International Union of North America pension
- United Steel Workers of America pension
- California State Treasurer's Office
- California State Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS)
- California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS)
- California State Treasurer's Office
- California State Controller's Office
- Connecticut State Treasurer’s Office
- Inter-Local Pension Fund (Amalgamated Lithographers Of America)
- International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
- Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board
- State of New Jersey, Division of Pensions and Benefits
- New York State Controller's Office New York City Employees’ Retirement System
- School Employees Retirement System of Ohio
- Oregon Public Employees’ Retirement System
- Oregon State Treasury
- Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System
- Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System
- Pennsylvania Treasurer's Office
- Sheetmetal Workers
- United Food and Commercial Workers Union pension
- Vermont Treasurer’s Office
- Washington State Investment Board
- Washington Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development
- Worker Owner Council of Washington State
- Teamsters (Northeast)
History
In January 2005, Vermont State Treasurer Jeb Spaulding launched this initiative with a letter to a selected group of state pension administrators, investment officers and state treasurers to explore their interest in establishing a working group “dedicated to working together on this key issue” while recognizing that, “The issues in this area are complex; it is difficult to get objective information, the market is ever-changing and historically has proven a difficult one for investors to navigate successfully.”
Since that time, a committed group of participants has convened via teleconference. They invite other principals and fiduciary institutional investors to join in discussions to address this important issue.
This working group will be able to provide access to accurate, unbiased information about the clean energy marketplace and best practices of other public fiduciaries. Some members, for example, have indicated that they will share information and lessons learned from their recent and rigorous examinations of private equity investment opportunities in the clean energy sector.
The goal of these initial discussions will be to develop an ongoing framework within which participants can explore the risks and rewards in making investments and allocating capital to the clean energy sector and other climate-related opportunities. Several other areas for future discussion have also been identified that could result in joint action by a committed group of institutional investors, including:
- Adoption of new investment policies
- New investment allocations
- Creation of pooled investment fund vehicles
- Partnerships with state clean energy funds