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Campaign Group issues challenge to Chair of Greater Manchester Pension Fund.

news release

An Open Letter to Councillor Kieran Quinn, chair of GMPF, has been published today by the campaigning group Fossil Free Greater Manchester (FFGM).  It picks up on radio interviews on Tameside radio with him and one of FFGM’s members.  Councillor Quinn contests that GMPF lost £148M on the stocks of four coal mining companies alone, in the 18 months from April 2014.  He also argues that engagement with fossil fuel companies is a superior approach to divestment. 

The open letter makes three requests with regard to these claims:

1.  “To allow us to check our calculations could you please provide the holdings data on fossil fuel companies that have coal assets for the last 18 months from April 2014 (and ideally to the end of March 2016). This will enable us to quantify the actual loss that occurred as a result of falling share values of your major fossil fuel stocks”

2. “Could you set out the specific goals of your engagement strategy? We are somewhat sceptical, we must admit, because fossil fuel companies are just that, fossil fuel companies, with an interest in the exploitation of fossil fuel reserves rather than the promotion of alternative forms of energy. What is it you hope to achieve by engagement?

3. “Could you say what the successes of your engagement strategy have been so far? Is it possible to quantify them in terms of saved emissions or investments in alternative energy? Or is success limited, as we suspect, to adoption of resolutions to improve risk management in relation to unburnable reserves and stranded assets?”

Fossil Free Greater Manchester awaits his response with interest.

Ends

Notes for Editors.

1) Fossil Free Greater Manchester is a coalition of organisations and individuals campaigning for the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) to take its money out of fossil fuels.  This is part of an international campaign for divestment, thereby building up pressure on governments and business to leave the vast majority of fossil fuels in the ground – our diminishing chance of averting runaway climate chance.

2) Greater Manchester Pension Fund manages the pooled pension fund of the councils in Greater Manchester and those of some other organisations.  It has some £13Bn in assets, of which approximately 10% are invested in fossil fuel stocks, either directly or indirectly via institutions such as banks and insurance companies.  It is the largest such fund in the country and has one of the highest proportions of assets in fossil fuel stocks.

3) The full text of the open letter is available online.

 

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