A conservative-backed lawsuit challenging three New York City employee pension funds over their decision to sell billions of dollars in fossil fuel investments has been thrown out by a state court judge. The ruling, which was made public on Wednesday, held that the city employees who sued, and the advocacy group that backed them, could not challenge the divestment decision because they had not suffered any direct harm.
The New York City pension funds, which cover most municipal employees as well as teachers and school administrators, announced in late 2021 that they had sold more than $3bn of shares in publicly traded fossil fuel companies. Because Wayne Wong and the other plaintiffs were entitled to fixed monthly benefits, their claims to have been hurt by the divestment because it would make it harder for the funds to meet their obligations were “speculative”, Justice Andrea Masley found.