The Thrift Savings Plan has$35,300,000,000$35.3Bin fossil fuel stocks

The Federal Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) manages over $725 billion in retirement savings for 6 million federal employees. It's putting those savings into coal, oil, and gas companies that are driving the climate crisis.

If the TSP continues to ignore climate change, plan participants could face financial losses from stranded assets and other climate-related financial risks.

22% of TSP fossil fuel investments are in 10 oil & gas majors

	$USD invested	% of fossil fuel investments
Exxon Mobil	$2.7B	7.53%
Chevron	$1.7B	4.73%
ConocoPhillips	$857M	2.43%
Shell	$823M	2.33%
TotalEnergies	$592M	1.68%
Phillips 66	$409M	1.16%
BP	$384M	1.09%
Valero Energy	$305M	0.86%
Eni	$152M	0.43%
Marathon Oil	$86M	0.24%
Total	$7.9B	22%

$35.3B in Thrift Savings Plan fossil fuel investments by industry. "Other" includes coal mining and conglomerates with carbon reserves and/or fossil fuel operations.

$16.1B in oil & gas companies

Top 10 oil & gas industry investments in Thrift Savings Plan funds

Exxon Mobil

$2.7B

Chevron

$1.7B

ConocoPhillips

$857M

Shell

$823M

TotalEnergies

$592M

Cheniere Energy

$486M

Schlumberger

$449M

EOG Resources

$428M

Phillips 66

$409M

Marathon Petroleum

$405M

$8.1B in fossil-fired utilities

Top 10 fossil-fired utility investments in Thrift Savings Plan funds

NextEra Energy

$776M

Southern

$489M

Duke Energy

$476M

Sempra

$290M

American Electric Power

$265M

Constellation Energy

$251M

Dominion Energy

$247M

PG&E

$232M

Enel

$229M

Exelon

$223M

A significant proportion of TSP fund assets are managed by BlackRock and State Street, who routinely vote these shares according to their own investment policies.

Last year, BlackRock opposed 93% of shareholder proposals related to climate change or social issues, up from 78% the year before, and 53% the year before that.

State Street isn't much different. Research shows how both State Street and BlackRock support the status quo at climate-critical companies, voting in favor of boards of directors over 95% of the time.

What can the TSP do?

The TSP is required to by law to track certain indices. But there are steps the plan could take to safeguard workers' savings.

AUDIT: Perform and publish a rigorous audit of the TSP's exposure to climate-related financial risk.
ENGAGE: Engage TSP fund managers like BlackRock and State Street Global Advisors on climate risk-related proxy voting policies. Engage TSP index providers like S&P Global and MSCI to take climate risk into account in index management.
EDUCATE: Ensure employees are aware of the risk that climate change poses to their retirement savings.

Frequently asked questions

Can the TSP add new climate-safe fund options?

Does the TSP have a self-directed option with climate-safe funds?

Can the TSP vote in favor of climate-related shareholder proposals?

What role do BlackRock and State Street play?

What steps have other retirement savings systems taken to protect from climate risk?

What is climate-related investment risk?

Where did you get this data?

Disclaimer: As You Sow is not an investment adviser

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