CalPERS - United Nations Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance Partnership
We joined the United Nations Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance (Alliance) in 2019, committing to accelerating decarbonization in line with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (°C) by 2050.
Our strategy emphasizes:
- A holistic sustainable investment approach
- Incorporating climate change risks and opportunities
- A focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the real economy
Our Investment Beliefs
Our commitment to managing climate change is exhibited in our Investment Beliefs, including:
We may engage investee companies and external managers on their governance, sustainability issues, and environmental practices, including but not limited to climate change and natural resource availability.
As a long-term investor, we must consider risk factors that emerge slowly over long time periods but could have a material impact on company or portfolio returns, such as climate change and natural resource availability.
Our Commitment to Managing Climate Change Risk
We demonstrate our commitment to managing climate change risk and capturing opportunities through operationalizing our Governance and Sustainability Principles (PDF) and our investment management processes as shown in our Sustainable Investment Integration Practices.
Information on our climate strategy and pathway to net zero can be found in the CalPERS’ Climate Report and Response to Senate Bill 964 (PDF). This comprehensive report discusses initiatives and actions we’re taking in the five channels for our pathway to net zero:
- Advocacy
- Engagement
- Integration
- Investment
- Partnership
Alliance members seek to reach real economy decarbonization in line with 1.5°C, primarily through:
- Engagement with companies
- Advocacy with regulators and policymakers
- Investing in climate solutions to finance the transition to a low-carbon economy
Partnerships between governments, businesses, investors, and civil society are essential to successfully navigate to net zero.
The Alliance and its members understand that this 2050 goal requires updates to assess the progress of the economy and the actions that investors are taking. Alliance members are setting near-term engagement, sector, and investment targets with the goal of real economy emissions reductions at certain time periods.
Targets, Initiatives & Updates
Find our targets, initiatives, and updates in the areas of engagement with the world’s largest-emitting companies to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, sectoral decarbonization pathways, and investing in the transition to a low-carbon economy.
- We convened and cofounded Climate Action 100+, the largest global investor collaboration on climate change, to engage the world’s largest emitting companies and decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
- Climate Action 100+ has significant participation from investors across the world. More than 600 investors are engaging the 160+ largest emitting companies.
- We’re committed to Climate Action 100+ engagements and continue to have a significant leadership role serving as a member of the Climate Action 100+ Steering Committee.
- Additional progress on the Climate Action 100+ initiative is shown on the Climate Action 100+ benchmark assessment and progress update.
- We’re also leading many engagements beyond Climate Action 100+. We conduct several engagements each year on companies’ decarbonization strategies and use our proxy vote to hold companies and company boards accountable.
Transition Pathway Initiative’s (TPI) sectoral decarbonization pathways, which are based on International Energy Agency scenarios, are widely used by investors and investor networks, including Climate Action 100+, to assess whether companies are aligned with the goals of the Paris Agreement – specifically, the goal of keeping global temperature rise below 1.5°C. This analysis informs investors, including CalPERS, and underpins our engagement with companies across the range of high-impact sectors.
We’re committed to assessing sectoral decarbonization pathways and targeting intensity and absolute real world emission reductions through engagement to bring sectors and individual companies in alignment to a 1.5°C pathway.
Carbon intensity targets for 2030 in each sector are shown in the table below, which includes the sectoral carbon performance measure for each of the high emitting sectors. Sector and company pathways and sector statuses are available for use via the TPI online tool.
Carbon Intensity Targets for 2030 for Energy, Transport & Industrials and Materials Sectors
| Cluster | Sector | 2030 Target | Sectoral Carbon Performance Measure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | Electricity utilities | 0.19 | Carbon intensity of electricity generation (metric tonnes of CO2 per MWh) |
| Oil and gas | 46.76 | Emissions intensity (gCO2e/MJ) | |
| Transport | Automobiles | 55.16 | Average new vehicle emissions per kilometer (grams of CO2 per kilometer) |
| Airlines | 692 | Carbon emissions per revenue tonne kilometer (gCO2/RTK) | |
| Shipping | 4.55 | Carbon emissions per tonne kilometer (gCO2/t-km) | |
| Industrials and Materials | Cement | 0.42 | Carbon intensity of cementitious product (tonnes of CO2 per tonne of cementitious product) |
| Diversified Mining | 46.53 | Carbon emissions per tonne of copper equivalent (tonne CO2e/tonne copper equivalent) | |
| Steel | 0.92 | Carbon intensity of crude steel production (tonnes of CO2 per tonne of steel) | |
| Aluminum | 4.73 | Carbon intensity of aluminum production (tCO2e/t aluminum) | |
| Paper | 0.35 | Carbon intensity of pulp, paper, and paperboard production (tonnes of CO2 per tonne of product) |
- CalPERS will target at least $100 billion in climate solutions, more than double our exposure as of 2023, funding progress through mitigation, adaptation, and transition.
- As of June 30, 2025, CalPERS’ investments in climate solutions had grown to nearly $60 billion.
- For the latest updates and reports related to CalPERS’ investments in climate solutions, please visit the CalPERS Net Zero webpage.