Campaigners call on pension fund councillors to pull nearly £¼billion out of fossil fuels
PROTESTORS across six North East local authorities will tomorrow (Friday 24 March) call on council leaders to pull £238million in pension fund investment out of the carbon-polluting oil, gas and coal industries.
The call for ‘divestment’ by the Tyne & Wear Pension Fund (TWPF) comes days after the UN’s latest climate report said the world’s net zero effort must “fast forward” a decade, because “the climate timebomb is ticking”.
Local campaign group Divest Tyne & Wear is holding a day of action tomorrow, starting with a rally in Gateshead, followed by others in Newcastle, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland – the councils which invest their workers’ money in the TWPF.
The fund is administered by South Tyneside Council, the smallest member-authority, and invests the pension contributions of most of the public sector workers in the North East – alongside those from a lengthy list of private employers across the region too.
Tomorrow’s day of action is being supported by climate groups across the region and the public sector union Unison, which represents many of the region’s council workers.
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Divest Tyne & Wear campaigners will deliver letters to council leaders, calling for local council tax contributions to the pension scheme to be switched to funds linked to green jobs and sustainable services.
The Gateshead rally will also hear praise for the cross-party stand taken by Gateshead Council, which last December formally called on the TWPF to review its investments in fossil fuel companies.
Main day of action organiser Lesley Mountain will present a large ‘t’Thank you’ card to Gateshead Council (designed on re-used cardboard) and said: “This decision had support from across the political parties – they understand that a survivable world is more important than party politics.”
Campaigner Olwyn Hocking told protestors: “Together, our local councils contributed more than £180million last year to the Tyne & Wear Pension Fund. We call on them now to show leadership on how that money – our money – is spent.
“2050 is too late. We should be investing in our futures, and divesting from fossil fuels.”
Rianna Gargiulo, divestment campaigner at Friends of the Earth, (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), said: “Investors like our local council pension funds have a clear choice.
“They can either continue gambling billions on fossil fuels – and propping up a broken and costly energy system – or invest in what’s really needed right now: decent housing and affordable renewable energy for all.”
Meg Boustead, a TWPF pensioner, said: “These huge sums are taken from the pockets of hundreds of thousands of council taxpayers and pension fund members in this area.
“Let’s focus on long-term solutions – not short-term profits that harm all our futures.”
Lesley Mountain, Gateshead event organiser, added: “Fifteen thousand climate scientists have warned that time is running out. We need to stop the extraction of fossil fuels now.”
Despite increasing withdrawal of investment (‘divestment’) in atmosphere-polluting industries, UK local councils still have nearly £10billion invested in fossil fuels.
And while that’s relatively ‘small beer’ in terms of the overall fossil fuel industry, campaigners say the public sector pension funds have a moral duty to set a pro-climate example.
Outside the public sector, the divestment movement also appears to be gaining traction among private investors such as insurance giant Aviva Investors, which has said it is removing nearly £2.5billion from oil, gas and mining, and aiming to achieve net-zero investment by 2040.
