The Sierra Club has published a new interactive tracker analyzing the proxy voting guidelines of major U.S. public pensions. The tracker analyzes the proxy voting guidelines, proxy voting records, and voting transparency of 32 of the largest and most influential public pension funds in the U.S., which collectively represent over $3.8 trillion in assets under management (AUM).
Sierra Club has traditionally published the results in their Hidden Risk report. Since their last report in February 2025, the organizational said, the Vermont Pension Investment Commission (VPIC) has been the only pension to significantly increase the ambition of its climate-related proxy voting guidelines.
The tracker’s scope includes state pension funds, county and city pension funds, including pension funds located in states restricting Environmental, Social, and Governance investing through “anti-ESG” legislation and executive actions.
This update includes minor methodological changes, including additional clarity for evaluating the strength of policies on Human and Indigenous Peoples’ Rights. Some pensions’ scores have been adjusted accordingly. The information was previously featured as a once-a-year snapshot as part of the annual “Hidden Risk in State Pensions” report.
Each fall, pension staff and boards typically work to analyze that year’s proxy season, and may recommend updates to their proxy voting guidelines based on outcomes from their engagement during corporate shareholder meetings earlier in the year. So far, in 2025, the Sierra Club said, six public pensions in the tracker have updated their proxy voting guidelines or their investment policies: Colorado Public Employees’ Retirement Association (CoPERA), Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS), Indiana Public Retirement System (INPRS), The Public School Retirement System of Missouri (PSRS), Virginia Retirement System (VRS), and Vermont Pension Investment Commission (VPIC).
The tracker also references where pensions have adopted the latest guidelines of their proxy advisors, such as ISS or Glass Lewis.
“This tracker provides stakeholders with up-to-date evaluations of public pension funds’ climate policies and ambitions,” said Allie Lindstrom, strategist with the Sierra Club’s Sustainable Finance campaign. “To protect their portfolios, public pensions must advocate for corporate climate action guided by credible and measurable strategies. Disclosure is not enough — any strategy that does not push for real-world emissions reductions and robust protections for nature, workers, and communities falls short.”
