(Bloomberg) -- The world’s biggest polluters may engage in “rebellion” if investors sell their shares rather than work with them in the transition to cleaner energy, according to the second-biggest U.S. public pension fund.

The energy transition “can’t be a fight,” Christopher Ailman, chief investment officer of the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, said Wednesday during a panel discussion organized by Sacramento State University. “The more we make it a fight, the more we’re going to see a rebellion on the other side.”

His comments echo those of BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink, who recently met with executives at major oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Shell Plc, as the world’s largest asset manager seeks to navigate the divide between fossil-fuel interests and climate activists.

Read more: Larry Fink Meets Big Oil and Its Foes to Navigate Climate Fight

Lawmakers in U.S. states, including West Virginia, Alaska, North Dakota and Texas, have warned that they may pull business from money managers and investment banks that pressure companies on social and environmental issues. 

Ailman reiterated previous comments that divestment isn’t the answer to getting polluters to change. Calstrs had done so on six occasions over the past two decades -- for financial rather than social reasons -- and selling shares not only cost the pension fund money, it also did little to change companies’ practices, he said.

“The sad thing I’ve noticed is each and every time there hasn’t been any change, nothing is different about the fact that we sold those stocks,” Ailman said. “Somebody else bought them, and those companies, those industries just went on and behaved the same way they did in the past. Nothing, absolutely nothing, changed.”

Ailman touted his fund’s success in persuading oil companies and utilities to set targets to curtail emissions.

“Divestment doesn’t reduce greenhouse gases,” he said during Wednesday’s panel discussion sponsored by Sacramento State’s College of Continuing Education Consensus and Collaboration Program. 

Calstrs, which managed $327.6 billion at the end of last year, backed activist investor Engine No. 1’s battle to replace three members of Exxon’s board. The oil giant risks going the way of Eastman Kodak and former video-rental giant Blockbuster if it sits out the transition away from fossil fuels, Ailman said during a Bloomberg TV interview in December.

Read more: Calstrs Says Exxon Is in Danger of Being Next Blockbuster

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