Fossil Free California

Fossil Free California partners with several climate activist groups, including the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment, Physicians For Social Responsibility Los Angeles, and 350.org. ³ Donors to Fossil Free California include the Sunrise Project, the Sustainable Markets Foundation, the Liberty Hill Foundation, ⁴ and the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment. ⁵

Background

Fossil Free California is an environmental activist and advocacy group that seeks to transition California to a low-carbon emission economy. It was established in 2016 and is made up of members of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), the two largest pension funds in the country. Both pension funds invest in conventional fuels, and Fossil Free California seeks to end this practice and “transition into socially just and environmentally conscious investing.” ^{6  1}

CalPERS is the largest public pension fund in the country with 1.9 million members and about $400 billion in investments. CalSTRS is the second-largest with 900,000 members and about $250 billion in investments. Of the $650 billion in total investments, about $40 billion is in fossil fuel-related investments such as refineries, pipelines, and drilling sites. ¹

Work Areas and Advocacy

Fossil Free California engages in education, coalition-building, direct action, research, and legislative advocacy, focused on encouraging pension funds to divest from conventional-fuels holdings. ²

It partners with other climate-related activist organizations, including the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment, Youth vs. Apocalypse, Physicians For Social Responsibility Los Angeles, Food and Water Watch, and 350.org. ³

In 2020, Fossil Free California joined Stop the Money Pipeline, a coalition of climate finance campaigners in the United States and Canada. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the group began a series of webinars, including “A Green Recovery and Climate Health Now” and “Youth and Elders Unite for Climate-Safe Pensions.” They began a campaign focused on getting the California Teachers Association to pass a divestment resolution, and partnered with National Educators United on an educational webinar on divestment. ⁷

The Make Polluters Pay campaign advocates for the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act under California’s Environmental Protection Agency, which pushes for accountability from conventional energy companies for their roles in climate change. It proposes that the “largest producers of climate-heating pollution” should be charged fees to pay for their “damage to the state.” ⁸

Fossil Free 529s encourages families to choose college savings plans that do not invest in conventional fuel-related organizations. California’s 529 college savings plan permits oil and gas investments. This campaign demands that at least one fossil-free investment option be made available. ⁹

Fossil Free California established the California Fossil Fuel Divestment Coalition, along with the California Faculty Association and Youth vs. Apocalypse. The Coalition is currently made up of over 250 members, including the local chapter of the AFSMCE government worker union, the ACCE Institute, California Environmental Voters, the California Teachers Association, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area chapters of Extinction Rebellion US, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the Climate Center, Third Act, and 350.org. It advocated for California Senate Bill 252, which would have required that CalPERS and CalSTRS liquidate any fossil fuel investments and stop making new investments in fossil fuel companies. The bill did not move forward. ^{10  11}

In July 2025, Fossil Free California joined with over 600 organizations in delivering a statement to the U.S. Congress titled “Solidarity with Targeted Nonprofits.” It framed U.S. Congressional inquiries into nonprofits as politically motivated. The letter responded to letters that the House Homeland Security Committee sent to hundreds of nonprofits requesting information. ¹² Other signers of the statement include the AFL-CIO, the Alliance for a Just Society, the Center for Progressive Reform, the Civil Liberties Defense Center, the Climate Justice Alliance, the Democracy Defenders Fund, Earthworks, Funders for Justice, Indivisible, the League of Conservation Voters, the National Abortion Federation, the National Institute for Reproductive Health, People Power United, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the Service Employees International Union, Solidaire Network, the Transgender Law Center, and Women’s March. ¹³

Funding

Fossil Free California reported 2023 revenues of $327,050 and expenses of $295,942. ¹⁴

Donors include the environmental activist groups Sunrise Project and the Sustainable Markets Foundation, and the broadly left-wing Liberty Hill Foundation. ⁴

The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment awarded Fossil Free California a grant from its Northern California Environmental Grassroots Fund in 2019 to support its campaign to divest CalSTRS from fossil fuel investments. ⁵

Leadership

Quinn Eide (formerly known as Miriam Eide) is the executive director of Fossil Free California. Eide earned a bachelor’s degree at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2020, then joined Fossil Free California, becoming executive director in 2023. ^{15  16} Eide is a member of the Climate Safe Pensions and the Stop the Money Pipeline coalitions, which focus on divesting from fossil fuel investments at the national level. ¹⁷ In 2024, Eide was recognized by the FracTracker Alliance with a Community Sentinel Award for environmental stewardship. ¹⁸

Miguel Alatorre Jr. is the board president of Fossil Free California. He joined GreenAction for Health and Environmental Justice in 2014 as a community organizer and a program director. In 2024, Alatorre founded and led the UNIDOS Network in Kettleman City, California. The UNIDOS Network is a small nonprofit that focuses on improving rural communities across the country. ^{19  20  21}