Sustainable investing

The Teachers’ Retirement Board is charged with maintaining a strong, stable fund in order to pay benefits to CalSTRS members and their survivors. To fulfill that responsibility, the board understands that long-term value creation includes the incorporation of sustainability considerations into management of the portfolio.

The Sustainable Investment and Stewardship Strategies program supports CalSTRS’ mission of securing the financial future of California’s educators through three avenues:

Sustainable Investment: Allocating capital to investments that deliver financial performance while simultaneously creating positive environmental, social and governance outcomes.
Stewardship: Using our influence as a significant global investor to promote sustainable business practices and public policy.
Strategic Relations Management: Securing the trust of the members that we serve and maintaining our position as a respected leader in the investment industry.

Path to net zero

We believe climate change is one of the greatest threats to our future, with undeniable links to business and financial investments. Climate change impacts health and safety, the environment and the global economy, which puts the CalSTRS Investment Portfolio at risk. Our mission is to support the retirement security of California’s educators. Virtually all companies and assets in our portfolio are affected by climate risk and must prepare for climate change.

Stewardship

The CalSTRS Sustainable Investment and Stewardship Strategies unit uses our influence as a significant global investor to promote long-term sustainable business practices and public policies. We engage publicly traded companies in order to support long-term value creation as well as mitigate risk to our portfolio and the financial market as a whole.

Kirsty Jenkinson

Kirsty Jenkinson is the investment director for the Sustainable Investment and Stewardship Strategies team for CalSTRS.

Corporate governance principles

CalSTRS has developed robust principles, policies and standards for fair and open governance of corporations.