The move follows a review of the companies’ readiness to transition to a low-carbon economy, DiNapoli said in a statement.

The move amounts to a compromise measure by the third-largest U.S. state pension fund as it and other big investors face calls from environmental groups to more fully divest from fossil fuels, something few have done.

Those holdings were in corporate bonds and actively managed public equity, DiNapoli’s office said. The fund “will continue to hold Exxon and the others that are restricted in its passive index holdings at this time,” a spokesman for DiNapoli said via e-mail.

While about $25 million worth of Exxon shares will be divested, the fund’s other Exxon holdings total about $500 million, spokesman Matthew Sweeney said.

“The passive strategy is fundamental to the Fund and has been successful. The review determined that removing it from the passive index would go against fiduciary duty at this time,” Sweeney said.

Exxon “is ever more committed to long-term oil and gas production while their peers are committing to diversification in a variety of different ways and making greater capital investments in those transition strategies,” another representative for DiNapoli said.

Exxon did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

In a joint press release, several environmental groups including DivestNY and the Climate Safe Pensions Network said DiNapoli’s action “misses the mark” by only partially divesting from Exxon and by continuing to own other oil majors.

“For all of the positive aspects of this plan, the scope of the divestment is too small and the pace of change does not adequately address the continued loss of value, weak responses from the companies or the urgency of the climate problem,” said the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, in a separate statement.