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May 2022

Last Updated: 27/05/2022

Environment

Campaigner demands council pension fund 'immediately offloads' fossil fuel investments

by Stuart Minting Local Democracy Reporter

| 27 May, 2022

The North Yorkshire Pension Fund, which receives contributions from staff at 160 firms, plus past and present public sector workers, invests in climate-damaging companies, such as Shell and BP.

An environmentalist has told councillors the North Yorkshire Pension Fund should "immediately offload" its investments in fossil fuel firms.

The fund receives contributions from staff at 160 firms, plus past and present public sector workers, and is worth £4.9bn.

The Stray Ferret revealed in January that the fund holds over £70m in climate-damaging companies, such as Shell and BP.

Richard Tassell, of Fossil Free North Yorkshire, told a meeting of the fund’s committee at County Hall in Northallerton that the world has "just 30 months" to begin radical changes.

Mr Tassell, a former staff member of both York and North Yorkshire authorities, said although the fund was working to invest more in renewable energy firms, this was “an entirely inadequate response to the scale of the crisis we are facing”.

He told the committee:

“We are asking that the council actively and urgently consider divesting from fossil fuel investments currently held by our pension fund and seek reinvestments in renewable projects.

“The Ukrainian invasion by Russia has highlighted the precarious nature of western countries’ energy supplies and when set against the developments in renewables over the past five years to a point where this technology is cheaper than coal, gas and oil. We must move away from those fuels at pace.”

He called for the committee to set time-specific targets to end fossil fuel investments and consult with all the pension fund’s members.

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A spokesman for the committee did not respond to either of the calls, but said getting rid of investments in fossil fuel firms immediately may exacerbate climate change.

The spokesman told the meeting the fund had been reducing its fossil fuel-related holdings in recent years and they now stood at less than 1%, which was “very low compared with just about every other local authority fund”.

He added:

“We have taken a view that we favour engagement over divestment from oil and gas companies. The reason for this is that we believe through engagement we can influence the direction of travel of these companies towards a low carbon economy.

“We also believe that if we were to sell the shares they would be more likely to be acquired by investors that would not have those responsible investment beliefs at their heart.”

He said the committee had been "quite ambitious" in terms of putting more money into low carbon investments and renewable investments.

Councillor John Weighell, the committee’s chairman, told Mr Tassell:

“I think the main difference between us may be not of the end result, but timing. We will get to the position that you want us to, but not as quickly as you would want us to.”

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Campaigner demands council pension fund 'immediately offloads' fossil fuel investments

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