This year’s divestment campaign highlights

2024 has been an exciting year for our divestment campaign. The campaign aims to block the money pipeline to the fossil fuel industry and to call on pension funds to stop investing in coal, oil and gas companies that are fuelling the climate crisis. 

These are just some of the highlights from the year.  

New campaign to divest Nest pension fund from fossil fuels 

This year, we’ve been working with our UK Divest colleagues to plan an exciting new campaign to call on the National Employment Savings Trust (Nest) pension fund to divest from fossil fuels. 

Nest’s default pension – its Retirement Date Fund – is investing in some of the world’s biggest fossil fuel polluters like BP, Shell, Equinor and TotalEnergies.  

The good news is that Nest offers a fossil-free Ethical Fund and it’s really easy for members to move their savings away from climate-wrecking fossil fuel companies to the Ethical Fund with just a few clicks. You can find out more about the campaign here.

MPs pledge to support divestment   

We’ve seen growing support this year from MPs to end the influence of the fossil fuel industry over our politics and kick big polluters out of Parliament.  

We’ve been working with incredible campaigners across Scotland and the UK as part of the Fossil Free Parliament campaign to challenge the oil and gas industry’s influence over our politics.  

During the General Election campaign, we worked with Global Justice Now Scotland, Parents for Future Scotland and amazing local groups to organise climate hustings for parliamentary candidates in Aberdeen, Falkirk, Stirling and Edinburgh. 

With the election of the Labour government, we’re supporting Fossil Free Parliament’s  new pledge to ask MPs to reject donations and other benefits from oil and gas companies.  

18 MPs have signed the pledge so far and you can see a list of supportive MPs and ask your MP to sign the pledge here.   

Campaigning for climate justice and council pension divestment 

In local politics, we have been working alongside brilliant campaigners from groups including Divest Lothian, Divest Strathclyde, Friends of the Earth Stirling and Friends of the Earth Falkirk to shift an estimated £2bn of Scottish council pension money away from fossil fuels towards green alternatives like wind and solar power.  

In August, new research from Divest Lothian revealed that the Lothian Pension Fund has increased its investments in fossil fuels from £166 million in 2022 to £208m by March of this year through the purchase of additional shares in big polluters like French oil giant, TotalEnergies, one of the companies behind the East African Crude Oil Pipeline.   

This is despite both Edinburgh and East Lothian councils voting in 2022 in favour of divesting the Lothian Pension Fund from fossil fuels.  

We’ll be continuing to campaign for our councils to go fossil free in 2025 and you can take action here to call on your councillors to divest our council pension funds from big polluters like BP, Shell, Equinor and Total. 

Global Day of Action to End Fossil Fuels  

In September, we were delighted to join groups from across Scotland and around the world for the Global Week of Action for Climate Finance and a Fossil-Free Future. 

Groups including Divest Lothian, Divest Strathclyde, Friends of the Earth Falkirk, Friends of the Earth Stirling, Global Justice Now Scotland, Stop Rosebank and Extinction Rebellion Scotland organised colourful photo actions and outreach stalls in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling to mark the Global Day of Action to End Fossil Fuels and to call on the Strathclyde, Falkirk and Lothian Pension Funds to divest from fossil fuels. 

‘Pay Up for Climate FInance’ Global Day of Action 

A week later, a fantastic coalition of groups held a musical and theatrical rally outside the UK Government Building in Edinburgh for the ‘Pay Up for Climate Finance Global Day of Action.’ 

We heard from inspirational speakers, including Joy Reyes from Friends of the Earth Philippines, about the urgent need for governments and corporations to implement a fast, fair and funded phase out of fossil fuels and to pay their share of the climate debt to countries that are already suffering the most from the fossil fuel-driven climate crisis.  

COP29 Global Day of Action for Climate Justice – Build a Better Future rally in Glasgow 

In November, we were thrilled to join groups including Divest Strathclyde, Parents for  Future Scotland, Better Buses for Strathclyde, Extinction Rebellion, Time to Divest and Stop Rosebank for a ‘Build a Better Future’ rally in Glasgow to mark the COP29 Global Day of Action for Climate Justice.  

We joined Protest in Harmony Glasgow and discobedience dancers to sing climate-themed songs and learn the moves for ‘Staying Alive’ by the Bee Gees.  

We also heard inspirational speeches about how we can build a better future for all by divesting from fossil fuels and arms companies and by calling on the Government to pay the climate finance we owe to countries most impacted by the climate emergency.  

How to take action on divestment in 2025 

If you’d like to get involved in any of these campaigns, we’d love to hear from you! You can email us at info@foe.scot and we can help to connect you with local groups and other divestment campaigners.

We couldn’t do any of the work we do without the support of our members. If you haven’t already, would you like to join us today?