Bill > SF4859

This bill modifies the investment standards for the State Board of Investment (SBI) to require sustainable investing. The key provisions are: 1. Establishes the "Minnesota Sustainable Investing Act" and sets forth the legislature's findings that considering sustainability factors, such as corporate governance, environmental, social, and human capital factors, is vital for evaluating risk and maximizing the performance of public funds. 2. Requires the SBI to develop and implement a sustainable investment policy by a certain date, which must identify sustainability factors that may impact the performance of individual investments and the fund as a whole. 3. Requires the SBI to prudently consider identified sustainability factors when making investment decisions to maximize financial returns, minimize risks, and effectively execute its fiduciary duty. 4. Mandates the SBI to include in its annual report a description of its process for identifying and assessing climate change-related risks, the potential impacts on its investment portfolio, and actions being taken to manage those risks. 5. Requires the SBI to develop proxy voting guidelines that recognize climate change as a business and systemic risk and use its ownership authority to mitigate these risks. The bill aims to ensure that public entities, like the SBI, consider sustainability factors when making investment decisions to maximize financial returns, minimize risks, and contribute to a just, accountable, and sustainable state.