CLIMATE campaigners are urging Scotland’s local authorities to do far more for the cause by divesting an estimated £10 million of their workers’ pensions from funds that invest in fossil fuels.
With COP26 under way in Glasgow, Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES), Platform and Divest Lothian highlighted that Scottish council pensions alone have £1.2 billion of such investments, and are fuelling the crisis.
Divestment groups are protesting across the UK, telling them to accept some responsibility for climate justice.
Their day of action coincided with the COP26 finance day, and saw Divest Lothian mount a James Bond-themed protest outside Edinburgh City Chambers, with the title Time to Divest.
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Susan Hamilton, from Divest Lothian, said: “It’s a step in the right direction that Edinburgh Council discussed the possibility of divestment from coal, oil, and gas by 2025 at last week's council meeting, but behind the technical language of the motion that the councillors passed is a failure to address the urgency of the climate emergency that they declared.
“The current motion does not provide a guarantee that fossil fuel investments will be sold – and certainly not in the timeframe demanded by science.
“Last week, the UN warned that the world is currently on track for a catastrophic 2.7 degree rise in global temperatures unless we drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions, so it’s vital this happens quickly.
“If the Lothian Pension Fund does not remove money from fossil fuel companies, it and the council are failing.
“There is evidence that funds which have divested perform as well, if not better, than ones still invested in fossil fuels. As Scotland hosts Cop26, it's time for Edinburgh and Lothian councillors to stop funding fossil fuels.”
Sally Clark, from FoES, said: “While the planet burns, the flames are being fanned by local authority pension funds which have billions of pounds invested in climate-wrecking fossil fuels.
“Councils must play their part in protecting the long-term future of their employees by ending their support for gas, coal and oil, and investing in building a cleaner, safer future for us all.”
The campaign to persuade councils to divest from fossil fuels is supported by FoE and Platform, who have published a report detailing £128bn of fossil fuel investment from UK pension funds.
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, the biggest beneficiary of fossil fuel funding from UK-based local government pensions, including Lothian, has been associated with a number of environmental and human rights controversies worldwide.
READ MORE: COP26 LIVE: Day three of UN climate crisis summit in Glasgow
In January, a Dutch court ordered Shell to compensate a number of Nigerian villages for loss of life, illness and destruction caused by their pollution.
Robert Noyes, from Platform, added: “Every day that we put off divesting from fossil fuels, we keep pouring billions into companies’ harmful operations.
“With climate action more popular than ever, it is no longer acceptable for local authority pension fund managers to provide polluters cover from the kinds of policies needed to keep global heating below 1.5 degrees by staying invested.
“With the eyes of the world on the UK, forget climate leadership - it’s time for climate catch-up and a permanent end to fossil fuel finance from UK institutions.”
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