Huh: PRC Pension Fund Lost $332 Million On Green Energy

Obviously, those in the People’s Republik Of California won’t say how or where it went

From the link

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System for state employees lost 71% of its $468 million investment in a clean energy and technology private equity fund, state records show, but CalPERS won’t explain how.

These losses are a major problem for California taxpayers, who at least for now are the backstop for underfunded state pensions, but also for state employees who trust CalPERS to responsibly manage their retirement plans.

CalPERS says its pension benefits are only 79% funded, leaving the state, and its taxpayers, on the hook for the other 21%. According to a recent report from Reason Foundation, CalPERS’ pension shortfall is approximately $180 billion. (snip)

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%, or more than $330 million, for which private equity firms were paid at least $22 million in fees and costs.

Now, imagine the government investigations if a private firm lost this money

The Center Square filed a public records request seeking more details into the fund’s losses, including management contracts with the firms investing CalPERS’ money, and the investments made with CalPERS funding by those firms. CalPERS declined to release the information, aside from sharing already-public records, citing a state law exempting many records for alternative investments — such as private equity — from many public disclosure requirements.

“The public should have a right to know how public money is being invested,” said David Loy, legal director for First Amendment Coalition, a government transparency and free speech nonprofit, in an email to The Center Square. “This is a serious transparency concern if the public doesn’t have visibility into how public money, especially pension funds, are being invested and to what degree of risk.”

Anyone else thinking the money went to hook up good Democrat donors? Disappeared into pockets? If the Credentialed Media had any integrity they would be asking pointed questions, investigating, and asking Newsom questions.