The change was eight years in the making, but New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s decision to divest the state’s massive pension fund from fossil fuels over four years is an enormous victory for environmentalists, according to climate activists and author Bill McKibben.

“It’s a huge part of this global divestment effort that’s now at about $15 trillion,” McKibben told Capital Tonight. “Look, the Pope and the Queen of England have both divested in the course of this year but they don’t have as much money as the Comptroller of the State of the New York. It’s the largest pension fund that divested yet, breaking the record set three years ago by Scott Stringer who divested the City’s pension fund.”

The latest state pension fund valuation is at $226.4 billion.

Bill McKibben is founder and senior adviser emeritus of 350.org. His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages. His latest book is “Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out.”