[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6510328,"mediaKeyId","5386725-deb7fa4bd2bf531561c53c6d7de7382b","parentId",5386725,"title","Albany committee recommends ESG implementation policy (C4) with aerospace and oil-and-gas exclusions, and asks council to consider a values statement","audioSeconds",3805,"startMs",2043000,"endMs",5848000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=5386725-deb7fa4bd2bf531561c53c6d7de7382b&start=2043&end=5848","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5386725-deb7fa4bd2bf531561c53c6d7de7382b/thumbnail_2043000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6510328/Albany-City/Alameda-County/California/Albany-committee-recommends-ESG-implementation-policy-C4-with-aerospace-and-oil-and-gas-exclusions-and-asks-council-to-consider-a-values-statement","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6510328-b7024983bdd758bd5b345d7080eb4d66/orig.mp4?Expires=1774884519&Signature=Jf3yhjxmA6oCVHouy5Jc78Y~S2iCi4~CPWh~~-wpG0s9HW9f-0eKo3uC1shaOVZYrq7ZE-MSXhsSpjrTdDfGTlI66~H25CD4k5UJxJilRcCD0Ib1pnnitEUTJszEaIhp2dul84ICOXZ2IDD4xFXNo6RLQffxOaaC368A2bVljzPQ52UBuI8jOIQEdQwc8Nawy~JwUIeIKRIyWJi4aO1WHZ~lQ1YmikguVTJM2IZAiL~bfe02W8PE1RobSi3P9kLrVHBonTg1-tJl2kjDSLfjPyiRY7qNt9IzqFjQYlspjfeDxNB9lAfnO8RZONotHKeNx4RCKkvvqYfZKEYPR332uQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","City of Albany, CA","date","2025-07-14T22:43:59Z","article","The Albany City Council Standing Committee on Audit and Fiscal Sustainability voted to recommend that City Council adopt an ESG implementation approach that staff characterized as Option C4: Sustainalytics-based screening limited to issuers with low or moderate ESG risk, refined by selecting top performers within each subindustry.

The recommendation, approved by the committee, adds negative screening for the aerospace and defense subindustry and for oil-and-gas producers and energy services, permits the council to designate additional companies for exclusion, and directs the portfolio manager and investment adviser to seek opportunities to sell existing holdings in now-excluded categories when such sales can be executed without incurring a financial loss.

Raina Shorts, finance director and city treasurer, summarized the staff analysis of ESG approaches and recommended a balanced option that she described as both cost-effective and administrable. \"The recommendation trying to balance all those pieces is to use a base of something like sustainability that provides a bridal, well rounded approach or at least a broad approach to ESG criteria, but not to overly complicate it...and the recommendation would be C4,\" Shorts said.

Staff outlined three broad approaches identified by the city's adviser PFM: (1) negative screening (exclude specific sectors or issuers), (2) positive screening (favor issuers with stronger ESG characteristics), and (3) blended approaches. Staff and PFM explained that the Sustainalytics data set classifies issuers into buckets (negligible, low, moderate, high, severe ESG risk) and that more-complex mixes increase operational fees.

Committee members discussed several practical trade-offs: (a) Sustainalytics' categorization is a point-in-time measurement at purchase and does not produce a simple percentile cut that some members requested; (b) tighter exclusion thresholds would materially shrink the universe of authorized investments; and (c) specific-name exclusions (for example, Lockheed Martin or Caterpillar were cited by public commenters) are operationally feasible but require council direction.

Members of the public urged a more explicit values statement and company-specific exclusions. One commenter (Peter, public) said Albany should be explicit about the city's values: \"We are not asking Albany to try to end this genocide. We are asking Albany not to make any money from it.\" Public commenters named Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar and Chevron as companies they would like excluded.

The committee adopted a motion recommending the C4 approach with the stated exclusions and with a direction that staff and the adviser prepare an ESG implementation policy and a draft amendment to the investment policy that references the ESG policy. The motion also included a recommendation that the full City Council consider whether to adopt a separate values statement related to avoiding investments that profit from human-rights abuses; committee members agreed the value-statement text should be considered at a future meeting and not decided that night.

Staff and the investment adviser said that, if Council adopts the recommended approach, the city would receive quarterly ESG reporting in addition to regular investment updates and staff would prepare materials for Council consideration; staff projected the earliest practical Council consideration would be in the fall (staff mentioned early October as a plausible earliest date). The committee specifically asked that any instruction to stop future purchases in excluded subindustries be applied from the adoption date forward and that advisers be authorized to seek opportunistic sales of existing holdings when those sales would not create an avoidable financial loss.

The committee vote forwarded the matter to City Council with the recommended implementation approach and the request that Council consider a separate values statement and a process for periodic review.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Audit & Fiscal Sustainability City Council Standing Committee - July 14, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","The Albany City Council Standing Committee on Audit and Fiscal Sustainability voted to recommend that City Council adopt an ESG implementation approach (Option C4) using Sustainalytics guidance, and to add negative screening for aerospace & defense, oil-and-gas producers and energy services.","taxTitle","Albany City, Alameda County, California","taxId",72346,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6510332,"PFM tells Albany committee portfolio posted gains in second quarter; city investment portfolio near $33 million",1658,364000,2022000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5386725-deb7fa4bd2bf531561c53c6d7de7382b&start=364&end=2022","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5386725-deb7fa4bd2bf531561c53c6d7de7382b/thumbnail_364000.jpg","/articles/6510332/Albany-City/Alameda-County/California/PFM-tells-Albany-committee-portfolio-posted-gains-in-second-quarter-city-investment-portfolio-near-33-million","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6510332-352b90311cf382bb1317d2da5ca2c986/orig.mp4?Expires=1774884519&Signature=YlvJYFNNE4hzKjCQRaIsOxUjX5e~HPGHBWU0439jH1AFMm~Jlc3YxQpPnjB1KVLzbJfDax2vIjXaXF8pu3cAh1wjMgmvzujMBeQJxDFHmFnZ71Cx2Yw2fsN~0d1zRPU-JGTa0fyQJ4xCGTD2oA31EP4gheuhId573M~qn-4KZh~udupGN7WTAGeyzDCBbJYLoJ0Js3I6WoIDec8iO63glkChUu0t1pTx1aKg01ob-s4~RVaQdlB757P~nzxOnW4vnWNHk2Ucw6Fxi-oMYBYG1iDeDjl8vGF4-3NEJKxF0k1Bxafzhf5yUXtrITBnkYcB8MxVARK0GLvGvYvExWT87w__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","PFM Asset Management presented Albany City's quarterly investment performance for the period ending June 30, 2025, reporting that the city maintained a roughly $33 million market portfolio and generated significant interest income in the quarter.

The presentation, delivered to the Albany City Council Standing Committee on Audit and Fiscal Sustainability, covered macroeconomic drivers (inflation, yields, tariffs and the recent Moody's downgrade), portfolio composition, recent purchases and quarterly returns.

The PFM presenter told the committee that the portfolio's amortized cost was about $32,400,000 and the total market value was about $33,000,000. Yield at cost for the portfolio was reported at 4.58% and yield at market at 4.21%. Net new purchases for the quarter totaled roughly $8,500,000, and PFM said it had identified opportunities to add nearly $6,000,000 in new names to the portfolio during the quarter.

\"This quarter, you can see 301,000 in interest earned during the 3 month period, positive change in market value of 188,000, and total dollars returned of 490,000 in the quarter alone,\" the PFM presenter said. PFM reported the portfolio returned about 1.5% for the quarter, outperforming its benchmark by about 22 basis points (benchmark 1.28%). Over the prior year the one-to-five strategy the city follows returned roughly 6%.

PFM framed performance against recent market themes: continuing—but cooling—economic activity, headline and core inflation measures (core PCE 2.7% in May 2025), an unemployment rate near 4.1% as of June 2025, tariff-related volatility and the market's evolving view on Fed rate cuts. The presenter also discussed Treasury yields and yield-curve dynamics, noting the city benefited from higher short-term yields and widened spread opportunities that allowed selective purchases.

Committee members asked for clarifications on macro impacts and on how the firm would react to further sovereign-rating or market moves; PFM reiterated it was not proposing a wholesale shift away from U.S. Treasuries but noted some higher-yielding opportunities in corporate and asset-backed products. City staff confirmed the city's effective portfolio duration was near 2.08 years (about 101% of the benchmark) and that 61% of holdings were rated AA or higher by S&P.

The committee received the presentation with no formal action taken on the portfolio itself. Staff said the committee will receive a preview of fiscal-year 2025 year-end audit results and continued quarterly investment reporting at a future meeting.","PFM Asset Management presented the city's second-quarter investment performance for the period ending June 30, 2025, reporting net purchases, positive interest income and modest outperformance versus the benchmark. City staff and the committee discussed portfolio composition, yields and market drivers.","actionData","errors"]

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Albany committee recommends ESG implementation policy (C4) with aerospace and oil-and-gas exclusions, and asks council to consider a values statement

PFM tells Albany committee portfolio posted gains in second quarter; city investment portfolio near $33 million