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Unison NW regional council votes to support the fossil-free divestment campaign…

event report

At the North West Regional Council meeting on Saturday 6th February, Unison delegates voted unanimously to support a motion on pension funds and divestment from fossil fuels.

The motion was proposed by the Northwest Probation & Cafcass branch of UNISON and highlighted concerns “about the impact of CO2 emissions and the resulting acceleration upon global warming caused by burning fossil fuels when adequate clean alternatives are available, and, the release of figures that show the Greater Manchester LGPF to have the largest investment in Dirty fuels amongst all LGPS schemes with 9.8% (£1.3 Billion) of its total assets (Summer 2015) in Fossil Fuels Stock.”

The motion raised further concerns about the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) investments in fossil fuels shares were not performing well.  A concern that has been reinforced by the recent announcements of huge losses by fossil fuel companies such as BP (BP makes record loss and axes 7,000 jobs) and Shell (Shell’s Earnings to Show Depth of Rout as Oil Extends Losses).

The table below shows the Top5 5 GM Pension Funds fossil fuel investments and the losses in percentage terms over the last 1 – 5 years. Top 5 GMPF investments with losses

 

 

 

 

The motion contained a commitment to:

  • Identify other Trade Unions with members of NW LGPF’s, and if possible, working alongside them to apply pressure upon the NW LGPF’s to encourage them to divest from fossil fuels.
  • Promote opportunities to invest in emerging technologies that will improve clean energy and develop a well skilled workforce to meet those changing needs.

Manchester Friends of the Earth welcomes the support from NW UNISON for the campaign to encourage GM Pension Fund to divest from fossil fuels investments.

Unfortunately, the UNISON national office does not yet support divestment and appears to believe that the “opportunities to invest in low-carbon infrastructure remain limited in the UK. Where such funds exist, they are small scale, and investing in them means high fees and huge transaction costs.” (Press statement, 25th September 2015).

However, in a 2015 report, economic analysts, PWC published an analysis of investment in renewable energy in 2014 and the implications for the sector through to 2020.  The report stated that “Reaching the 2020 targets is estimated to require a further c. £50billion of investment, requiring ongoing political support, for example through setting funding budgets through 2020.

According to  United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 9th “Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2015” there was a surge in green energy investments worldwide towards a total of $270 Billion.

So, it would appear that there are plenty of opportunities for local authority pension funds to invest in renewable energy schemes.  In addition, there are huge opportunities to invest in UK housing retrofit and energy efficiency programmes – if only Local Authority Pension Funds choose to do so.

The COP 21 agreement signed in Paris, in December 2015, was widely accepted to spell the “end of the fossil era.” (Daily Telegraph).  There is an urgent need to ‘decarbonise‘ the UK energy sector, increase renewable energy and retrofit Britain’s cold, damp and draughty housing.

Unfortunately, the current position of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund is that “We have no plans to disinvest from fossil fuel companies ourselves in the medium term.” (GMPF Letter, 15 October 2015).

GM Pension Fund Divestment petitionGreater Manchester has more money invested in coal, oil and gas than any other local authority.  We’re asking it to lead the way for other councils and divest.

Please sign the petition to Demand Greater Manchester divests from fossil fuels.

Want to get involved in the Greater Manchester Divestment campaign. See the Facebook page, email fossilfreegm@gmail.com or follow the campaign on Twitter: @FossilFreeGM

 

 

 

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