About us
You’ve spent your working years helping others. Shouldn’t your pension be protected and serve to protect?
We are nurses, teachers, first responders and other public employees. In our jobs we work to help better our communities. But the money in our retirement savings is being used to cause public hazards through investments in the dangerous and risky fossil fuel industry. These investments can and should be shifted responsibly to protect our pension’s financial health as well as the health of our communities and our planet.
These are the voices of concerned WRS pension members around Wisconsin.
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Stefania Sani
MADISON, RETIRED REGISTERED NURSE
“My day to day work in hospitals and critical care didn’t have anything to do with climate change, but it surely reinforced a deep appreciation for life. I was thrilled to come in contact with this small group of Wisconsinites who have a plan to address a key driver of climate change - investments in the fossil fuel industry. Together we can do much more than I could as an individual.”
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Tom Rutkowski
RACINE COUNTY SUPERVISOR, RETIRED TEACHER
“The State of Wisconsin Investment Board should join other state pension funds in sending a clear signal to the financial sector that continued investment in fossil fuels jeopardizes our retirement savings and threatens our overall health and security.”
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Ann Brummitt
BROWN DEER, FORMER PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER
“I can’t stand by while my hard-earned pension is invested in fossil fuels that endanger all the things I love most, including our own physical and mental health. I won’t be quiet until SWIB divests from these risky companies and reinvests in clean, renewable energy.”
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Abby Novinska-Lois
MADISON, UW RESEARCH & OUTREACH SPECIALIST
“I am frustrated that my WRS retirement is funding fossil fuels that actively harm my health and Wisconsin families through air pollution, water contamination and climate destruction. My savings for the future shouldn’t destroy my chance of one.”
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Buzz Davis
STOUGHTON/TUCSON, RETIRED STATE OF WI PLANNER, VETERAN
“The WRS and SWIB are full of smart people. We must call upon them to be wise also. A pension does me no good in a burnt-up world. What am I supposed to do? Travel with Elon Musk to the stars? No thanks! Let’s think ahead! We must pressure our public and private pension funds to protect our planet.”
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Anne Steinberg
MILWAUKEE, RETIRED TECHNICAL COLLEGE INSTRUCTOR
“I want my retirement savings to be used to protect, not harm, our climate, water and future generations. I especially don’t want it funding fossil fuel extraction and Enbridge pipelines.”
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Eric Hansen
MILWAUKEE, RETIRED TOOL & DIE APPRENTICE INSTRUCTOR, MATC
“I want my pension savings to support healthy communities and a healthy planet - not the oil companies causing catastrophic climate change.”
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Joan Wolf
STODDARD, RETIRED PHYSICAL THERAPIST
“If not now, when?”
About our group
The organizers of Climate Safe Pensions for Wisconsin are members of the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) who are concerned about the risks of continuing to invest our retirement savings in fossil fuels. Some of us are retired and others are still working, living throughout Wisconsin. We’re building a grassroots network of WRS members and concerned Wisconsinites who believe our pensions should be protected and invested responsibly. We work with others who believe in a more equitable, just and sustainable future. We invite you to join us.
We believe divestment from fossil fuels is in line with the State of Wisconsin Investment Board’s (SWIB) fiduciary responsibilities to invest prudently for its annuitants. Fossil fuels are a risky investment, and we don’t think SWIB should take chances with our retirement funds.
We recognize fossil fuels are a dangerous, volatile and uncertain industry, and that the switch to renewable energy continues to accelerate. There are many alternative profitable investments that could also contribute to our community’s well-being.
We believe it’s time for WRS to follow the example of other large state pension funds that have safely begun to divest from fossil fuels while meeting their legal and fiduciary responsibilities. We call on SWIB to do this now, and we ask you to join us in this call.
It’s time to move away from fossil fuels
Fossil fuels are risky investments, and our pension shouldn’t be risky.
Fossil fuels are risky investments, and our pension shouldn’t be risky. Pension fund decision-makers have a fiduciary obligation to consider the long term financial risks of continuing to invest in uncertain and volatile fossil fuel companies. It is abundantly clear opinions and markets are shifting, favoring renewables over fossil energy. Sustainable investment opportunities are on the rise.
Fossil fuel investments risk our water, the health of our planet, and our kids’ future.
SWIB must consider the broader risks of climate change when making decisions regarding our pensions. Any perceived short-term financial gain is wiped away when the financial burdens of climate change-related illness and environmental & property destruction are added to the mix. We cannot afford these increasingly reckless investments.
Our pension shouldn’t fund fossil fuel companies that endanger Wisconsin.
Fossil fuel companies directly endanger Wisconsin’s lands, waters, way of life and people. This includes the oil pipelines owned by Enbridge, a Canadian company, which threaten Wisconsin’s water, tribal treaty rights and landowner property rights.
