NYC clean investment strategy reviewed

NEW YORK, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The New York City comptroller said it would closely review the mayor's proposal to divest from coal amid industry criticism of the financial strategy.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio this week called on the five city pension boards to consider a proposal to divest from coal. The mayor's office said the divestment initiatives would align city pension funds with current trajectories in the energy market.

Notre Dame University said it was moving away from coal as a power source after Roman Catholic Pope Francis described the issues surrounding climate change in moral terms. Scott Stringer, the comptroller for the city of New York, said there were health and investment responsibilities tied to public pension funds like New York's.

"Climate change is a very serious threat, and we've been examining the issue for some time," he said in response to emailed questions. "We welcome the mayor's contribution to the ongoing discussion, and look forward to working closely with his office to conduct a comprehensive study."

Five pension funds for New York City have assets of more than $160 billion, with about $33 million tied to coal.

Industry critics said divesting from coal for the sake of addressing climate goals was a short-sighted investment strategy. Matt Dempsey, a spokesman for the Independent Petroleum Association of America, said it's not a particular act of "political heroism" to shy away from coal in and of itself.

"I guess we can take some comfort in the fact they're keeping hold of oil and gas securities, but this whole thing is really just a big distraction," he said in response to questions. "New York is today, and remain well into the future, one of the largest consumers of fossil-derived energy among any state in the nation. Nothing announced this week changes that one bit."

New York state law requires that 30 percent of the electricity in the state comes from renewable energy by the end of this year. Most of its renewable power comes from hydroelectricity.