Environmental activist and writer Bill McKibben is among those testifying at the Vermont Statehouse Friday regarding state divestment of investments in fossil fuel companies.
The House and Senate committees on Government Operations are holding a joint hearing on a bill that proposes to divest state retirement funds from the 200 publically traded companies that hold the largest carbon content fossil fuels reserves.
Those testifying include McKibben, the state treasurer, the head of the National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems, and experts from an investment fund that specializes in socially responsible investing .
Governor Peter Shumlin has been calling for the state's pension funds to sell off their stocks in coal companies and Exxon-Mobil.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.