Climate Finance
Net Zero by 2040
Comptroller Lander serves as custodian, trustee, and investment adviser to the New York City Retirement Systems. Climate change poses risks and opportunities to our investment portfolio. We seek to mitigate the risks, take advantage of opportunities, and reduce the contributions our investments make to climate change.
Climate change poses systemic and material investment risks to the global economy. New York City is among the first cities in the nation to commit to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions in our public pension funds by 2040. In 2021, three NYC retirement systems (NYCERS, TRS, and BERS) adopted a commitment to achieve a net zero greenhouse gas portfolio by 2040. These indicators share our progress to invest in climate solutions, divest from fossil fuels, and engage portfolio companies and asset managers to ultimately reach a net zero investment portfolio.
Read our full Net Zero Implementation Plan
Emission Reduction Targets
New York City Employees’ Retirement System
Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York
Board of Education Retirement System
Investments in Climate Solutions
Our office has been proactive in investing in solutions to the climate crisis. We are proud to have hit our 2025 goal two years early and look forward to stepping up to move beyond that goal. Here are some examples of companies at the leading edge of fighting climate change that NYCERS has invested in:
- Intersect Power is a clean energy company bringing innovative and scalable low-carbon solutions to its customers in retail and wholesale energy markets.
- Form Energy is developing, manufacturing, and commercializing new ways to store electricity, which is an important need in the transition to renewable energy.
- Nextracker provides smart devices that automatically adjust solar arrays to track the sun, increasing the power that the solar panels produce.
Total Emissions by System
| Emissions (tons of CO2e) | NYCERS | TRS | BERS |
| Scopes 1 and 2 | 2,788,136 | 2,786,341 | 323,849 |
| Scope 3 | 10,741,650 | 11,346,047 | 1,363,932 |
Amount Divested from Fossil Fuels
$3.8 billion
See here for a list of assets included within the Retirement System’s divestment initiative.
Amount Invested in Climate Solutions
$10.9 Billion