Alpha and beta describe different forces that shape investment performance. One is about skill or the ability to make smart choices that add extra value. The other is about conditions or how the overall market behaves and how much a portfolio moves in response to these conditions. Both help pension trustees and members make sense of where returns come from and how to build long-term stability.

Learn how to speak up at pension board meetings and advocate for responsible climate risk management. This step-by-step guide helps pension members and trustees prepare effective testimony, highlight key climate risks, and protect long-term retirement security.

While many funds have made progress, there remain critical areas where improvements in stewardship and corporate engagement can deliver greater effectiveness and better align with investment principles and risk management goals.

When we talk about investing, two major categories often come up: private and public markets. While they both play critical roles in how capital flows and how companies grow, they operate in fundamentally different ways. Understanding the differences between the two and their impact on the global economy, particularly in terms of risks and opportunities, is crucial, especially for long-term investors such as pension funds.

When comparing investment performance, two of the most common measures are Internal Rate of Return (IRR) and Time-Weighted Return (TWR). While they sound similar, the difference lies in what question you’re trying to answer. Explore these concepts through an analogy.

The UMass Boston Labor Resource Center is hosting the James Green Memorial Lecture and Film Screening, featuring the powerful new documentary American Agitators on October 18, 2025.

On the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, CFA Executive Director Mary Cerulli joined a powerful webinar exploring how climate change, capital, and systemic injustice shape disaster recovery. Watch the replay to hear insights on labor, equity, and climate finance from Mary and other expert panelists.

This blog unpacks the difference between climate adaptation and resilience investing, two strategies essential for preparing for and responding to the impacts of climate change. Explore strategies, examples, and the importance of climate-smart investing for future financial security.

For many workers, a pension isn’t just numbers on paper—it’s a promise. It’s the security you’ve earned after years of showing up, working hard, and contributing to your workplace, retirement savings, and community. But for a lot of people, pensions can feel complicated or out of reach. Who’s managing them? Where is the money invested? And how do you make sure your retirement is protected?

Climate Finance Action welcomes Riddhi Mehta-Neugebauer, Senior Research Analyst at SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, to its Board of Advisors. A seasoned strategist with 15+ years of experience, Riddhi brings expertise in labor, policy, and capital stewardship.

Year-end pension fund reviews can feel overwhelming, but they’re a critical opportunity to engage with climate risk and investment opportunities. Explore key areas to focus on—including performance, policy, risk management, and stewardship—while offering practical questions and actions you can use to ensure your fund is building resilience and supporting a sustainable future.

As climate change intensifies, public pension funds face growing financial risks from extreme weather events. Investing in climate insurance risk pools offers a strategic solution, helping funds protect retirement portfolios, support resilient communities, close the protection gap, diversify investments, and generate stable, long-term returns. This approach aligns financial prudence with social responsibility, creating a more resilient and sustainable future.

Climate Finance Action is thrilled to welcome Dan Nicolai and Hector Saldivar to our team. With decades of experience in labor organizing, political advocacy, and social justice leadership, Dan and Hector bring powerful skills that will strengthen CFA’s mission.

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is rarely considered in pension fund investment strategies, yet its professionalization could align with the fiduciary duty to deliver long-term returns. In this guest blog, Rob Karpati of The Blended Capital Group explores how ASM’s transformation can de-risk value chains, strengthen supply of critical minerals, and open new opportunities for responsible, scalable pension investment.

In investing, the concept of “packing smart” is known as financial materiality. It's all about discerning which factors truly matter when planning for meeting obligations and long-term goals for workers, like a dignified retirement.

Explore six examples of engagement that beneficiary groups can request from their fund. This is not an exhaustive list but rather intended to prompt groups to consider what form and function would be most effective and accessible for their fund.

Addressing physical and climate transition risks is essential to protecting long-term retirement, and that's why more resilient pension funds use science-based climate measurement tools and a 'transition readiness' approach to manage their risk. They equip the fund to better understand its portfolio's vulnerabilities and inform strategic investment decisions.

What do sailing and pension investing have in common? A lot more than you’d think. This blog breaks down two major public fund strategies—Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA) and the Total Portfolio Approach (TPA)—and explains why TPA offers the flexibility needed to respond to climate risk in real time.

CFA Organizer and Policy Specialist Danielle Fox, along with SEIU 503 leaders Mike Powers and Steve Demarest, commend Oregon state leaders for moving public retirement fund investments away from fossil fuels in a letter to the editor of The Oregonian.

CFA Organizer and Policy Specialist Danielle Fox, along with SEIU 503 leaders Mike Powers and Steve Demarest, commend Oregon state leaders for moving public retirement fund investments away from fossil fuels. Read an excerpt