NYC to sell and sue Oil Cos

[JamesMuenchen]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jan/10/new-york-city-plans-to-divest-5bn-from-fossil-fuels-and-sue-oil-companies
New York City is seeking to lead the assault on both climate change and the Trump administration with a plan to divest $5bn from fossil fuels and sue the world’s most powerful oil companies over their contribution to dangerous global warming.

I wonder if they also plan to repay all the profits they made while they were owners of the businesses.

[Lootman]

I think this is ideological posturing and meddling of the worst kind, and is simply a reaction by the administrations of some liberal enclaves in the US wishing to be seen to be doing something, anything, to undermine Trump. It's perhaps significant that they never tried this stunt whilst Obama was President.

And I'd expect lawsuits from the workers and retirees who rely on these funds for their pensions. The pension funds have a fiduciary responsibility to their members to maximise returns and minimise risk. You don't achieve that if you arbitrarily carve out vital sectors of the market.

Same applies to the "ethical" mandates out there which avoid safe and defensive sectors like alcohol, tobacco, gambling. defence and so on, thereby elevating the risk of the portfolio. It's OK to do that with your own money, if you feel strongly enough. But doing it with other peoples' money is irresponsible.