SOUTH Lanarkshire Council has passed a motion calling on Scotland’s largest local authority pension fund to divest from fossil fuels.
The motion, tabled by South Lanarkshire’s first Green councillor Kirsten Robb, commits the council to writing to the Strathclyde Pension Fund Committee to call for it to renew its commitment to fossil fuel divestment “with the intention of divesting from fossil fuel investments completely as quickly as possible, and no later than 2029.”
Last year an assessment of local government pension investment into fossil fuels undertaken by Friends of the Earth Scotland estimated that the Strathclyde Pension Fund’s investment stood at around £836 million.
A separate investigation by The Ferret – which valued the fund’s investments in fossil fuels at £508m – found that it was the second biggest funder of fossil fuel firms among local government pension funds in the whole of the UK, behind only Greater Manchester.
READ MORE: 'It's crippling us': Orkney crab factory shares its experience of the energy crisis
The motion calls on the fund to “develop, in conjunction with the trade unions, a meaningful consultation mechanism with Fund members and that employers, such as South Lanarkshire Council, are consulted on the Fund’s investment strategies and divestment policy.”
It also requires the council to review its own investment strategy and implement a Responsible Investment Strategy “to ensure that South Lanarkshire money is invested for positive change and does not fuel the climate and ecological crises.”
Divestment is the act of getting rid of stocks, bonds or investment funds, which has most commonly been used in recent years by organisations seeking to end investment into the fossil fuel industry.
Sally Clark, divestment campaigner with Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “It's really great to hear that South Lanarkshire councillors have voted overwhelmingly in favour of ending the council's pension fund investments in fossil fuel companies, and to instead invest in ethical alternatives that will benefit communities.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: UK facing economic situation not seen in living memory
“We now need Strathclyde Pension Fund to listen to the councillors from South Lanarkshire, Glasgow, Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire who are all calling on the fund to remove its £836m investment from climate-wrecking fossil fuels.”
The Strathclyde Pension Fund has over 250,000 members in Glasgow and the West of Scotland and is run by Glasgow City Council.
In September last year the committee that oversees the fund formally approved a strategy of fossil fuel divestment.
However, earlier this month Friends of the Earth Scotland accused the fund of backtracking on its promises after it failed to sell a single fossil fuel investment and continued to keep fossil fuel giants like Shell and BP on its books.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel