Credit: train photos via Creative Commons under CC BY-SA 2.0
Freight train climbing hill
After plummeting at the onset of the pandemic last year, booming investment earnings have helped push the total value of pension fund assets over $90 billion, officials said Wednesday during a public meeting of the New Jersey State Investment Council.
“The results, obviously, have been very favorable,” investment council chairman Deepak Raj said during the meeting.
The potential record-setting investment performance comes as the state has been ramping up pension contributions in recent years to climb out of a huge hole created by past underfunding. It also comes after Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration resisted calls to short state pension payments amid budget problems that were triggered at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Hudson Reporter
Jersey City Council joins the ‘girlcott’
Council supports Girl Scout troop s palm oil ban; seeks to divest from fossil fuel investments ×
During a virtual meeting of the Jersey City Council, the council unanimously adopted two environmentally conscious resolutions.
Keeping an eye on the future of climate change, the Jersey City City Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on pension boards to divest in the fossil fuel industry as well as a resolution supporting a local Girl Scout troop’s “girlcott” of Girl Scout cookies containing palm oil.
The resolution supporting Girl Scout Troop 12026 pushes for Girl Scouts of America to find an alternative to the palm oil in some of their cookies due to the unsustainable practices of harvesting palm oil.
Credit: Keith Riley Whittingham via Creative Commons CC BY ND 2.0
File photo: Hunting shotgun
New Jersey’s public-worker pension fund continues to own a small stake in a company that manufacturers firearms, several years after Gov. Phil Murphy and lawmakers first raised concerns about public investments in the gun industry.
As of earlier this month, the pension fund owned shares worth an estimated $28 million in a company that, among other products, specializes in making custom sporting shotguns and rifles, according to the latest information provided by the Department of Treasury.
However, the overall $85 billion worker-pension fund has cut ties in recent years with a manufacturer of firearms ammunition, which had been its only other direct link to the firearms industry, Treasury officials confirmed.
Hudson County View
Photo courtesy of Jersey City Ward E Councilman James Solomon’s office.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“As a state and a city that knows climate change’s ravages first hand, New Jersey and Jersey City should be leaders on fossil fuel divestment. The time for half measures on climate is over,” Solomon said in a statement.
“The state should sell their current investments in fossil fuels. Rules should be established to prevent any future investment in corporations that poison the earth.”
The measure, which was prepared in partnering with Divest NJ, will call for the New Jersey State Legislature, the New Jersey State Investment Council, and the Pension Committee for the Employees’ Retirement System of Jersey City to divest from current fossil fuel investments and ban future investments in corporations who profit off climate pollution.
Hudson Reporter
Jersey City councilman calls for a ban on fossil fuels investments
Councilman James Solomon
Jersey City Ward E Councilmember James Solomon will present a resolution calling on local and state pension boards to ban future investments in fossil fuels
The resolution, scheduled to be put before the council on April 28 at 6 p.m., calls for the New Jersey State Legislature, the New Jersey State Investment Council, and the Pension Committee for the Employees’ Retirement System of Jersey City to divest from current fossil fuel investments.
“As a state and a city that knows climate change’s ravages firsthand, New Jersey and Jersey City should be leaders on fossil fuel divestment,” said Solomon. “The time for half measures on climate is over. The state should sell their current investments in fossil fuels. Rules should be established to prevent any future investment in corporations that poison the earth.”