The hero we need? Evaluating institutional barriers and opportunities for pension funds to accelerate an inclusive fossil fuel phaseout

Financial institutions, including pension funds, are simultaneously highly entangled with the economic drivers of climate breakdown and positioned as key actors in addressing the climate crisis and energy transition. This thesis explores the opportunities and limitations of pension fund climate action, addressing the overarching question: what role can pension funds play in accelerating fossil fuel phase-out? Bringing together concepts from environmental governance, critical studies of finance, and field theory, it explores the field of pension fund climate action, its institutional structures, and its agents of change. The US, UK, and the Netherlands are taken as case countries, while a sample of 9 of the largest public pension funds and their climate action are studied in more depth. Using sources including pension fund annual and sustainability reports, policy documents, NGO and industry reports, media, and expert interviews, it maps the institutional environment pension funds operate in and traces the historical development of pension fund climate strategies, before examining the field dynamics, strategies, and frames adopted by both pension funds towards the fossil fuel sector, as well as actors exerting pressure on pension funds themselves. While taking seriously the space for pension fund contribution to fossil fuel phase-out, this thesis also highlights the limitations of relying on climate action that functions within financial logics. It concludes by exploring the future implications of relying on pension fund climate action and opportunities for reimagining pension funds in a changing world.