California State Retirement Fund Lost 71% of $468 Million Clean Energy Investment

[mystery-ak]

California State Retirement Fund Lost 71% of $468 Million Clean Energy Investment

Paul Bois 28 Oct 2025

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) for state employees lost 71 percent of a $468 million private equity investment into clean energy.

Because CalPERS pension benefits are only 79 percent funded, the California taxpayer and state government have to make up for the other 21 percent. With a high pension shortfall of $180 billion, CalPERS’ investment strategies into private equity have come under scrutiny, per The Center Square:

    CalPERS committed $465 million to the private equity CalPERS Clean Energy & Technology Fund (CETF) in 2007, ultimately paying in $468,423,814.

    Since then, the cash out and remaining investment value of the investment fund has declined to $138,045,373, as of March 31,2025.

    That’s a loss of 71 percent, or more than $330 million, for which private equity firms were paid at least $22 million in fees and costs.

For the 2024-2025 fiscal year, CalPERS’ overall returns stood at 11.6 percent, with private equity returns totaling 14.3 percent and public equity returns totaling 16.8 percent.

Marc Joffe, a public finance expert and visiting fellow at the California Policy Center, questioned why CalPERS has placed a significant amount of money into far riskier and more costly private equity investments when returns were nearly equal to public equity investments.

“Returns were similar … so why go through all the trouble — if you can get these kinds of returns on the public markets, why bother with all the complexities and the illiquidity involved in private equity?” Joffe told The Center Square.

Joffe noted that the 71 percent loss in the CETF investment exemplified the “combined dangers of private equity and ESG investment,” wherein “a very opaque investment choice appears to have been chosen because of its green credentials, and yet it’s now generated a huge loss for taxpayers and retirees.”

more
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/10/28/california-state-retirement-fund-lost-71-percent-468-million-clean-energy-investment/

[DefiantMassRINO]

I'm sure the Pirate Equity vultures still awarded themselves generous compensation for their profound underperforming market insight and genius.

Would have done better in an S&P 500 Index Fund.

I also pretty sure that no relatives of California politicians profited from those investments.

[GtHawk]

Not to worry, all bad investments and losses there from are covered by California taxpayers forced to make up any shortfalls in CalPERS.

[Kamaji]

Wow.

[PeteS in CA]

How much did they shamvest in the failed Ivanpah Solar Power Facility?

It should not take financial genius to figure out that a "business" that relies on subsidies AND mandated purchase of their product is a bad investment. Bird Choppers and Bird Fryers (which Ivanpah was) depend on both.