Divestment dreams

How misguided is the progressive campaign to divest the state’s $70 billion pension fund of fossil fuel investments? Let us count the ways.

First there is the fundamental stupidity of inviting partisan politicians to make decisions on individual pension investments. Today it’s the Democrats declaring fossil fuel investments morally bankrupt; tomorrow perhaps activists will line up against soda companies, or drug companies that manufacture opioids (Massachusetts already forbids investments in tobacco companies).

The commonwealth hires pension managers at hefty salaries to make decisions that are based on the best return on investment, not on of-the-moment political sensibilities.

Then there is the long-shot notion that ridding the state’s pension fund of these investments will hasten the end of Americans’ reliance on fossil fuels, as the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Marjorie Decker (D-Cambridge) and others seem to think it will. There is precedent for successful divestment campaigns, of course; the move to disinvest in South Africa is credited with helping to end apartheid.

But Decker and her colleagues can’t really believe that pulling state pension funds out of fossil fuel companies will suddenly find us all heating our homes with solar panels and driving around in cars powered by vegetable oil. No, as they are surely aware, the statement is symbolic. The practical effect, however, will be to increase costs and potentially make it more difficult for the fund to reach its return on investment, and that is far

from symbolic for the fund’s participants and for taxpayers.

Finally, industry representatives rightly point out that forcing divestment in oil and gas companies could backfire, by forbidding investments in those that are also working to develop renewable energy technologies.

We understand that Decker and many of her colleagues feel righteous in their cause and moved to make a statement. But their responsibility is first to the taxpayers and to the state and municipal employees who participate in the pension fund. The polar bears come second.