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Public urges legislature to force PRIM transparency, climate risk review and divestment from weapons and fossil fuels
Summary
Witnesses including unions, environmental groups, financial planners, physicians and family members pressed the Joint Committee on Public Service to require the Pension Reserves Investment Management (PRIM) board to assess climate risk, increase transparency and divest from companies selling weapons to Israel, fossil fuels and firearms.
Representative Erica Udehaven asked the Joint Committee on Public Service to consider a package of bills aimed at changing how the state's pension assets are managed, including H 2984, which would require divestment from companies providing military equipment to the state of Israel.
A broad coalition of witnesses — from the Sierra Club and Warheads to Windmills to members of Jewish Voice for Peace, Mass Peace Action, medical professionals, and financial planners — urged the committee to press PRIM for a more systematic review of climate‑related financial risk and to divest pension funds from companies tied to fossil fuels, weapon manufacturers and, in a separate filing, the firearm industry.
Sierra Club deputy director Jess McGahn told the committee that mitigating climate risk "is essential to upholding the funds' fiduciary duty," adding that…
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