PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 13, 2024
A coalition of youth climate activists and former government employees is calling out the system that oversees how to invest the retirement funds of Maine’s teachers, judges, municipal workers and other public employees, saying it has not done enough to divest its holdings in fossil fuel companies. A first-in-the-nation law that the Legislature passed in 2021 ordered the state pension fund, known as MainePERS, and Maine’s treasurer to divest all holdings in fossil fuel companies by Jan. 1, 2026. MainePERS has said that it cannot meet the 2026 deadline because it violates the system’s fiduciary duty, outlined in the Maine Constitution.