Jackson Chadwick of Portland is the advocacy and organizing director for Maine Youth for Climate Justice. 

A 2021 legal mandate directed the state of Maine to divest its assets from the fossil fuel industry. The Maine Treasury, tasked with managing state investments, complied with the mandate. The Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MainePERS) did not.

LD 99 was the first state law in the country that directed a state government to divest its financial assets from the fossil fuel industry. For years, the industry has underperformed, yet many public pension funds, such as MainePERS, remain invested in an option that jeopardizes the savings of former, current and future public employees.

Of course, fossil fuels are just one industry that public pension funds like MainePERS invest in. But, MainePERS could have gained more for its pensioners by divesting. A 2023 report found that eight U.S. public pension funds lost $23 billion over just a decade.

MainePERS’ investments would have performed better for our state’s active and retired public workers had it not remained invested in fossil fuels. For many Mainers, there is also a moral imperative for divestment. The extraction, refinement and use of fossil fuels raise air pollution levels, affect more people’s health and contribute to rising global atmospheric temperatures. Mainers understand that continued investment in the industry only incentivizes more extraction, more refinement and more consumption of their products.

So why is MainePERS violating this law? Its reasoning hinges on an opinion from Aaron Frey, Maine’s attorney general. The 2022 letter states that MainePERS is only required to follow the legal directive of LD 99 if it is consistent with its fiduciary duty to its beneficiaries. Because MainePERS has remained invested in fossil fuel assets and missed the January 2026 divestment deadline, it’s clear it doesn’t view divestment as consistent with its fiduciary duty.

But research and precedent strongly suggest otherwise.

Hundreds of global institutions with a fiduciary duty to pensioners or beneficiaries have divested (or are in the process of divesting). They understand the volatile nature and poor long-term return of fossil fuel investments.

Another of MainePERS’ arguments surrounds the transaction costs of selling shares of existing assets. While these costs exist, they are minimal compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars the agency could have gained by divesting from fossil fuels sooner, while balancing a diverse market portfolio.

Maine youth care about fossil fuel divestment. As a young Mainer myself, it’s a priority for me that our state government fully divest from the fossil fuel industry. Young Mainers across the
state are starting jobs in municipal government, becoming teachers or working in some capacity for the state. For the sake of their retirement futures, I believe that an agency like MainePERS shouldn’t invest in underperforming market sectors and should divest its remaining fossil fuel holdings.

As we enter the thick of a high-stakes election season, all political candidates and, of course, all voters — regardless of political affiliation — should learn about this timely issue. For some, this issue may be about the focus on climate. For others, it may be about financial security and agency accountability. If elected, all candidates running for state office will be responsible for ensuring that the next governor and state legislature pay attention to and take action on this matter.

I encourage all readers to learn more about fossil fuel divestment and urge MainePERS pensioners to ask their retirement system: Why are you flouting a legal mandate and choosing to remain invested in the underperforming fossil fuel industry?