Councillors call on pension fund to seek alternative investments to fossil fuels

Herefordshire Council is calling on representatives of the Worcestershire Local Government Pension Fund board and committee to seek alternatives to investments in fossil fuels.

The move comes following a report by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change which said urgent and unprecedented changes are needed to avoid the risk of extreme heat, drought, floods and poverty across the world.

The report said global temperature rise is now heading towards 3C.

Councillor Trish Marsh who proposed the successful motion at full council earlier this month said: “This isn’t Herefordshire Council’s money, it belongs to the Worcestershire County Council pension fund who administer it for their own employees and for 190 other employers.

“It has got 22,000 contributing members and 19,000 pensioners and the fund’s value is £2,701m.

“Herefordshire Council has a seat on the pension board and committee. We do have influence.

“I was delighted to find that we have reduced fossil fuel investments held by the fund but in fact that was only when I took the opportunity to speak to the financial officer myself as there is no information about that on the website.”

She was pleased to say it was not a new issue for the council who have been actively working on carbon reduction for more than 10 years.

Coun Roger Phillips, who seconded the motion, said it was good to applaud the efforts made by the panel to reduce its investment in fossil fuels from 5% to 1.5%.

Coun Nigel Shaw, who also supported the motion, pointed out that there was still value in investing in the petrochemical industry given the current high price of oil.

He said: “Oil remains vital for nearly all cars, lorries, aircraft and ships.

“The price increase of oil has helped propel oil share companies. American sanctions on Iran, political chaos in Venezuela, and the recent activity in Saudi Arabia looks set to squeeze supply and pump prices higher.

Coun Terry James said he was happy to support the proposal but warned it would not reduce the amount of fossil fuel by a teaspoon.

He said: “Until we start acting in a different way, these sorts of things are merely salvaging our conscience.

“It’s rather like the people that go into a supermarket with their reusable bags and then stuff them full of Danish pastries wrapped in heavy plastic and feel they’ve somehow salvaged their conscience by doing this.

“We need to be going on fewer foreign holidays and reducing the power of our cars and the council should make all its transport electric, that would make a difference this will just send a message.”