Description
Several cities and counties in the U.S. have adopted policies to divest and restrict investment in fossil fuel industries. The City of Seattle adopted a fossil fuel divestment policy in 2014. The King County Investment Pool invests cash reserves for all County agencies and approximately 110 special districts and other public entities such as fire, school, sewer, and water districts, and other public authorities. It is one of the largest investment pools in the state of Washington, with an average asset balance of more than $9 billion. On average, King County agencies comprise half of the pool and outside districts the other half. The Investment Policy restricts the allowable investments to certain types of highly rated securities, including certificates of deposit, U.S. treasury obligations, federal agency obligations, municipal obligations, repurchase agreements, and commercial paper. To date, this has prevented the purchase of investment securities from corporations and other ventures whose primary business is the production of fossil fuels. This action would update the Investment Policy to explicitly prohibit future fossil fuel investments.