The last time I looked they had about 1% of their assets in what could loosely be called alt-energy. CERES is big on politicking:
January 26, 2009 - A group of 44 investors managing over $1.7 trillion in assets called on Congressional leaders today to include significant funding for energy efficiency, clean energy and clean transportation in the economic stimulus bill being debated this week on Congress....but when it comes to putting the money up, not so much.
Instead, CalPERS' idea of alt investment is buying raw land top tick of the housing bubble ($1 Bil. write-off) or gunning commodity prices via long-only index investments and swaps*.
The headline story is from New Energy Finance via CleanEdge:
Danish Pension Fund Giant Investing 'up to $400 Million' in Hudson Clean Energy
ATP, the Danish pension colossus with 4.5 million members in its home country, has emerged as a substantial investor in Hudson Clean Energy, the private equity fund investing in US and European renewable energy projects.*Goldman bagged 'em. I mean they took CalPERS deep! First they tout $200/bbl. oil, then after the collapse:
The 2008 annual report for ATP, posted on the pension group's website, discloses that it bought a 24.4% stake in Hudson, which was founded by a group of former Goldman Sachs financiers and is one of the most ambitious new players in wind and solar project development....MORE
From Barron's, Nov. 20, 2008 via our post "It’s official, Goldman capitulates on oil"-
Goldman Backs Off Its Oil ‘Super Spike’ Theory
TURNS OUT, $200 CRUDE WAS TOO AGGRESSIVE A CALL
That ‘’super spike” in oil prices that Goldman insisted would lift crude to $200 a barrel ….? Turned out to be a dagger that has pierced Goldman itself. It never really turned out to be that prescient: instead of the 50% jump in oil that Goldman anticipated back in May, when it made the call with crude trading at $132, the price of a barrel never got more than 11% higher. And has since, of course, lost fully two-thirds of that price in the intervening four months.
Now Goldman is left with the ignomy of summarily abandoning the investors who listen to its research calls, telling them effectively that they’re on their own. On Thursday, Goldman said it was ”closing” its recommendations for oil trades. Meaning that in a perilous time when the traders who pay attention to Goldman’s recommendations could use some guidance the most, Goldman has opted to give them the least. And some traders are furious about it, comparing the maneuver to then-strategist Abby Cohen’s decision to abandon her targets for equity indexes in the fall 2001, citing the uncertainties abounding in the market.
Goldman specifically talked about four trade recommendations it previously issued, and said clients shouldn’t put any stock in them any longer. One particular trade, a Nymex-WTI swap on the 2012 contract, issued in September, when crude already had declined to below $70, suggested that the contract would reflate to a range of $120 to $140. Obviously, that hasn’t happened....MORE
