GreenFaith Climate Finance Briefing

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Event: “GreenFaith Climate Finance Briefing Date: Thursday, February 24, 2022 NYS Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli’s Keynote Address Thank you Reverend Mohaupt, for that generous introduction, and thank you all. Thanks as well to Reverend Fletcher Harper for inviting me to speak today. And let me also acknowledge your other keynote speaker, Dr. Atul Shah. Because our It’s good to join with you.

Covid-19 has created even deeper economic insecurity in nations across the globe—further widening the gaps that we know have been growing for years, in part fueled by the environmental damage caused by climate change.

Fund is invested globally and across the economy, as the world moves to net zero emissions, so will the Fund” – C omptroller DiNapol

I want to commend GreenFaith for your work to build a multi-faith global climate and environmental movement dedicated to creating a more equitable, sustainable world. My faith tradition is Roman Catholicism. In Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change, the Pope wrote:

I urgently appeal for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all… All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents. The urgency of this dialogue—and the actions needed— have only grown during this devastating pandemic, as

GreenFaith’s efforts to encourage religious leaders and their investment advisors to leverage the power of pension funds and other investments against this evergrowing threat to the future of our planet have never been more important. I’d like to share with you, as trustee and fiduciary of the New York State Pension Fund, some of the engagement and investment strategies I’ve employed to address climate change. I come to this challenge with an abiding desire to do what’s right and necessary for our planet and its people, but with the overarching responsibility to protect the retirement security of our pension system’s 1.1 million members. I am proud to tell you that today, the New York State Pension Fund is among the best run, best funded,


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