Revealed: East Sussex schools funding climate change through local pension scheme

Press release
Divest East Sussex [1]
12 March 2019

REVEALED: EAST SUSSEX SCHOOLS FUNDING CLIMATE CHANGE THROUGH LOCAL PENSION SCHEME
As pupils ready for climate strike, call for schools to back divestment from fossil fuels

12 March 2019, East Sussex: As thousands of school students from across the UK prepare to take to the streets this Friday (15 March) to demand urgent action on climate change [2], a Freedom of Information Act request has revealed that over forty schools and and sixth-form colleges in East Sussex are inadvertently funding global warming through their contributions to the Local Government Pension Scheme, the East Sussex Pension Fund (ESPF).

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East Sussex residents deliver UN climate report to County Council

Press release
Divest East Sussex [1]
17 October 2018

EAST SUSSEX RESIDENTS DELIVER UN CLIMATE REPORT TO COUNTY COUNCIL
Document should be a wake-up call for East Sussex Pension Fund, say campaigners

16 October, County Hall, Lewes: Members of local campaign group Divest East Sussex delivered the latest UN report on climate change to a meeting of East Sussex County Council yesterday, saying that it should be a wake-up call for the East Sussex Pension Fund to ditch its investments in the fossil fuel (oil, coal & gas) industries.

Published last week, ‘Global Warming of 1.5 °C’ concluded that “limiting global warming to 1.5C, compared with 2 °C, could reduce the number of people both exposed to climate-related risks and susceptible to poverty by up to several hundred million by 2050” [2], but the window for doing this and thereby avoiding the worst impacts of climate change is rapidly closing.

East Sussex residents join global call for “fast and fair” transition from fossil fuels

#RiseforClimate photocall in Hastings UK, 8 September 2018. We have 3,000 signatures but need 5,000 to force a debate on divestment at County Hall in Lewes: https://tinyurl.com/esccdivest

Press release
Divest East Sussex [1]
9 September 2018

EAST SUSSEX RESIDENTS JOIN GLOBAL CALL FOR “FAIR AND FAST TRANSITION TO A WORLD WITHOUT FOSSIL FUELS”
Locals call for end to County Council investment in oil, coal & gas, and global push for renewables

Saturday 8 September 2018: Members of the public from across East Sussex took part in a global day of action on climate change yesterday (Saturday 8 September) with a photocall and petition-drive on Hastings sea front.

An estimated 250,000 people took part in thousands of actions in 90 countries across the world, from Papua New Guinea to Panama, as part of Rise for Climate, a day of action calling for a fast and fair transition to a world without fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) and 100% renewable energy for all [2].

Join the Rise for Climate global day of action on Saturday 8 September!

On Saturday 8 September, as the effects of climate change become ever more apparent, people across the world will be taking action to demand for a fast and fair transition to a world free from fossil fuels with 100% renewable energy for call.

In Hastings, members of Fossil Free Hastings will be gathering for a divestment-related photo call, followed by a petition-drive for the Divest East Sussex petition. We almost have 3,000 signatures. Help us reach 5,000 and force a County Council debate @ the County Hall in Lewes.

Join us! We’ll be assembling at 12 noon (Saturday 8 September) by the gates of Hastings Pier.

For more info call 07596 483 272.

County Council says it will “eliminate” investments in fossil fuel companies who do not respond to “engagement”

Press release
Divest East Sussex [1]
5 December 2017

COUNTY COUNCIL SAYS IT WILL “ELIMINATE” INVESTMENTS IN FOSSIL COMPANIES WHO DO NOT RESPOND TO “ENGAGEMENT”
Urgent need for action on investments in BP and Exxon pressed by public at County Council meeting

5 December 2017, County Hall, Lewes: The East Sussex Pension Fund will “eliminate” investments in fossil fuel companies that do not respond appropriately to its current strategy of “engagement”, the Chair of the East Sussex Pension Committee, Councillor Richard Stogdon, told the Full Council meeting of East Sussex County Council (ESCC) this Tuesday (5 December) [2].

Eleven members of the public from across East Sussex attended Tuesday’s meeting to ask questions about the Council’s continued investments in giant oil and gas companies like BP and Exxon.

Cross-party statement calls on East Sussex County Council to stop investing in fossil fuels

Press release
Divest East Sussex [1]
9 November 2017

CROSS-PARTY STATEMENT CALLS ON EAST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL TO STOP INVESTING IN FOSSIL FUELS
As international climate talks start in Bonn, new report shows that councils across the UK are investing more than £16 billion in companies like BP and Exxon

9 November 2017: As international climate take place in Bonn [2], campaigners have released a statement signed by 24 local councillors from across East Sussex calling on East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to stop investing local people’s pensions in fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas). The statement, which has been signed by Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green Councillors, as well by Independents, welcomes ‘the recent unanimous cross-party decision by Labour and Conservative Councillors on the Waltham Forest Pension Fund Committee to completely divest the £735 million Waltham Forest Pension Fund of its investments in fossil fuel industries’ and calls on ESCC to ‘divest local people’s pensions from these dirty, damaging and financially risky industries.’ [3]

Oil industry should ‘put itself on a pathway of “managed decline”‘ – County Council

OIL INDUSTRY SHOULD ‘PUT ITSELF ON A PATHWAY OF “MANAGED DECLINE”‘ – COUNTY COUNCIL
Campaigners hand-in over 2800 signatures calling for County Council to divest local people’s pensions from fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas)

17 October, County Hall, Lewes: East Sussex County Council has stated that it is ‘in the best interest’ of members of the Local Government Pension Scheme for ‘the entire oil industry to put itself on a pathway of “managed decline”‘ [2]. The assertion was made at yesterday’s Full Council meeting, which took place after the hand-in of a petition, containing 2873 signatures, calling on the County Council to divest local people’s pensions from fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) [3].

Bus tour takes divestment message across East Sussex

Press release
Divest East Sussex and Don’t Frack with Sussex [1]
24 September 2017

BUS TOUR TAKES DIVESTMENT MESSAGE ACROSS EAST SUSSEX
Campaigners collect over 640 signatures for petition urging County Council to make local government pension scheme fossil free

Saturday 23 September 2017, across East Sussex: A group of East Sussex residents visited Hastings, Bexhill, Hailsham, Eastbourne, Seaford, Crowborough and Uckfield yesterday (Saturday 23 September) in a bus powered by waste cooking oil [2], during a one-day tour to publicise the campaign to persuade East Sussex County Council to stop investing local people’s pension monies in fossil fuels (oil, coal & gas).

Don’t Miss the Bus on Climate Change: Make Pensions Fossil Free

On Saturday 23 September campaigners from across East Sussex will be boarding one of the Big Lemon’s sustainable buses for a one-day tour of East Sussex, taking the message about fossil fuel divestment – and the Divest East Sussex petition – to Hastings, Bexhill, Hailsham, Eastbourne, Seaford, Crowborough, Uckfield and Brighton.

Divest East Sussex’s 4 September 2017 statement to the East Sussex Pension Committee

The following statement was made by Julia Hilton, on behalf of Divest East Sussex, at the 4 September 2017 meeting of the East Sussex Pension Committee.