AN SNP councillor has led efforts to ensure that the £4.15 billion Tayside Pension Fund plays its part in tackling the climate emergency.
Councillor Anne Rendall’s efforts to ensure that the pension fund looks to green investments and to disinvest from fossil fuel companies which are not strongly committed to reducing emissions were agreed at a recent meeting of the Pension Fund Committee.
Tayside Pension Fund oversees investments and assets in excess of £4.15bn, with a membership of more than 51,000 people and 46 employers, including local councils, colleges, police (non-uniformed staff) and other organisations. The move by the council was met with support from environmental groups.
Many councils, including Dundee City Council, have declared a climate emergency in recent years.
This has led to additional investment in biodiversity, carbon reduction and an expansion in infrastructure for cycling and walking.
Rendall said: “We all need to ensure that we practice what we preach and I’m delighted that we now have agreement that will result in an investment strategy which recognises the climate emergency.
“The pension fund continues to perform very strongly and it is right that there is an expectation that it plays a role in supporting the environmental, social and economic realities facing our region.
“We wanted to send a strong signal to our investment managers that we want to look to investments which, in addition to fulfilling our duty to be able to pay pensions due to members as they fall due, look to the future and to helping towards a safe, secure future.”
Andrew Llanwarne, of Friends of the Earth Tayside, added: “Friends of the Earth Tayside welcomes the indication that the Tayside Pension Fund may finally decide to move its investments out of fossil fuels, after the Trustees had faced a long period of pressure on the issue.
“We can see that the demand for fossil fuels will reduce dramatically over the coming years, as we rapidly shift to low-carbon alternatives.
“Fossil fuel companies are failing to recognise this in continuing high levels of production and seeking out new sources when there are already far larger reserves of coal and oil than we can afford to use.
“The banning of sales of petrol and diesel vehicles in the UK from 2030 should be a clear enough signal that their business model has to change completely, if they are to survive.”
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