The Sierra Club has warned of “problems with consistency” at US public pension funds in its latest analysis of sustainability-related voting, with differences in support across resolutions and a reluctance to oppose directors at climate laggards.

The group last year analysed a number of pension funds in Democrat-leaning states, and has now expanded to include large funds in Republican-leaning and swing states, meaning the latest edition covers more than 30 of the “largest and most influential public pension funds in the US”.

Funds with $3.8 trillion in assets are now included in the analysis, written in partnership with Stand.earth, which grades them on their voting policies and actual votes across a series of resolutions filed at high emitting sectors and financial institutions over the past proxy season.

The report broadly follows expected results, with funds in Democrat-leaning states given the highest grades and funds in Republican-leaning states – including those with legal restrictions on ESG – receiving lower marks.

However, there are a number of surprises in the results.

In Republican Ohio, the $107 billion Public Employees Retirement System supported barely any of the resolutions put to vote, earning it an F grade, but the Ohio Teachers’ fund backed every single disclosure resolution examined across topics including biodiversity, Free, Prior and Informed Consent, environmental justice and lobbying. It also supported many of the biodiversity action and climate target resolutions.

Similarly, there were large discrepancies between some funds’ voting policies and how they ended up voting. New Jersey’s State Investment Council and the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System were both given F grades for their policies but high marks for their actual voting as they supported many of the resolutions in question.

Among the Democrat-leaning states, Colorado, Maine and Maryland were given the lowest overall grades, as was Washington’s giant State Investment Board.

Californian pension giant CalSTRS also underperformed, failing to support any of the biodiversity and environmental justice disclosure and climate target resolutions in the report. Los Angeles County pension fund, CalPERS and California University all got higher grades.

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