£1.8 Billion Council stake in fossil fuels undermines Scottish climate effort

Data released today (9/11/17) reveal that Scottish council pension funds invest £1.8 billion (1) in fossil fuels – the industry most responsible for climate change.

The data show that between 2015-2017 Scottish council investments in fossil fuels have increased. In this period nearly all national governments signed up to the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Scottish Government has also taken measures to end the use of fossil fuel cars by 2032 and ban fracking.

* Scotland’s councils invest £1.81 billion in coal, oil and gas companies through their pension funds.
* Dumfries and Galloway was the worst offender, investing 9.4% of their entire pension fund in fossil fuels.
* Strathclyde Pension Fund, Scotland’s largest, invested £803 million in fossil fuels.
* Overall Scottish council pension investment in fossil fuels has increased by £146 million since 2015. (2)

Whilst many pension funds accept the facts of climate change they often insist that engaging directly with these companies is an effective way to tackle the problem.

Ric Lander, Friends of the Earth Scotland Divestment Campaigner, commented:

“With hurricanes devastating the Caribbean, and Pacific islanders fighting to stop their homes from sinking into the sea, the impacts of climate change are already hitting hard.

“Scotland’s councils are ignoring the realities of climate change. Their investments in deeply destructive fossil fuel companies fly in the face of Scotland’s wider efforts to phase out fossil fuel cars and ban fracking.

“Fossil fuel companies won’t be talked into dropping their core business of digging oil, gas and coal out of the ground. Councillors who oversee these funds need to take action to make their pension funds compatible with a future worth living in by divesting.

“Pension funds cannot provide for a safe future whilst investing the companies driving climate change.”

The 2017 UN Climate Change Conference, currently taking place until 27 November, is chaired by Fiji, an island nation where some villages have already been forced to move to higher lands. Up to 1.7 million people from Pacific Islands could be displaced by climate change by 2050.

George Guivalu Nacewa, Pacific Climate Warrior, Fiji (3):

“In the Pacific, the impacts of climate change are not a debate, it is our reality. We need to keep fossil fuels in the ground. We no longer have time to talk. Now is the time to act.”

Several councils in England have shown leadership by committing to divest from fossil fuels including Southwark, South Yorkshire and Waltham Forest.

Councillor Simon Miller (former Chair of Waltham Forest Pension Fund) said: “I am proud that Waltham Forest has committed to divest from fossil fuels. Given current pressures on Local Authority budgets, our pension funds have a key role to play, not only in making our economy greener and our communities healthier, but as driver of sustainable, future focused investment in local areas.”