County Council accused of hypocrisy over ‘climate emergency’

Press Release
Divest East Sussex [1]
21 September 2020
More info: 07596 483 272

COUNTY COUNCIL ACCUSED OF HYPOCRISY OVER ‘CLIMATE EMERGENCY’
Still no teeth for Council policy of ‘engaging’ with the companies driving the climate crisis

Monday 21 September: Campaigners accused East Sussex County Council (ESCC) of hypocrisy over its climate change policies today, after the East Sussex Pension Committee rejected fresh calls to give teeth to its policy of ‘engaging’ with the giant oil and gas companies that are driving the climate crisis.

Council urged to ‘get serious about 1.5°C’ in advance of crucial meeting

Press Release
Divest East Sussex [1]
18 September 2020
More info: 07596 483 272

COUNCIL URGED TO ‘GET SERIOUS ABOUT 1.5°C’ IN ADVANCE OF CRUCIAL MEETING

Call for East Sussex Pension Fund to ditch fossil fuel investments as Financial Times heralds the ‘beginning of the end’ for Big Oil



Friday 18 September: Members of the public from across East Sussex and Brighton are calling on East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to ‘get serious’ about limiting global warming to 1.5°C and commit to divesting from fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas), in advance of an important Council meeting next Monday (21 September).

The calls come as long-standing warnings about the financial dangers posed to the Fund by its fossil fuel investments appear to be coming true [2].



Please send a card to the East Sussex Pension Committee members before 21 September!

On 21 September the East Sussex Pension Committee will be meeting to discuss the recommendations of a report that it commissioned following last October’s divestment debate [1]. The decisions taken at this meeting could have a big impact on whether – and how long – the East Sussex Pension Fund continues to invest in fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas).

Everything that the Fund has done in relation to climate change over the past 4½ years – including its recent announcement that it is taking moves to halve its exposure to fossil fuels – has been driven by pressure from campaigners.

We now need YOUR HELP to step up that pressure even further if we’re to going to get it to make a commitment to fully divest from fossil fuels.

Take a ‘chicken selfie’ to help remind Councillor Fox that the East Sussex Pension Fund’s fossil fuel investments are coming home to roost!

Gerard Fox, the Chair of the East Sussex Pension Committee, has repeatedly blocked moves to divest the East Sussex Pension Fund from fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas). He’s also a keen Twitter user.

Please use the poster and / or masks below to remind him that the East Sussex Pension Fund’s ‘fossil fuel chickens’ (that is, its investments in the giant oil and gas companies like Shell and BP) are now well and truly coming home to roost.

Climate change chicken protest sets world record

Press Release
Divest East Sussex [1]
22 August 2020
More info: 07596 483 272
PHOTO: https://tinyurl.com/chickeninscreenshot (CAPTION: A screenshot from the Zoom protest ‘Cllr Fox: Don’t let ESCC’s fossil fuel chickens come home to roost!’)

CHICKEN PROTEST OVER SETS WORLD RECORD
East Sussex Pension Committee chair Councillor Fox told not to let East Sussex County Council’s ‘fossil fuel chickens’ come home to roost

Saturday 22 August: Members of the public from across Brighton and East Sussex donned chicken masks to stage an online ‘chicken-in’ protest this morning (Saturday 22 August) as part of the campaign to get East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to stop investing in the giant oil and gas companies that are driving the climate crisis [2].

‘Councillor Fox: Don’t let ESCC’s fossil fuel chickens come home to roost!’ Join the mass Zoom protest and world record attempt on Sat 22 August!

Print out your chicken mask (see below) and come join the mass Zoom protest and ‘chicken-in’ at 11am on Saturday 22 August to tell East Sussex County Council it’s time to stop funding climate change!
Register now at: https://tinyurl.com/chickenprotest

For 40 minutes we will cluck around in the Zoom Henhouse, make music and learn a thing or two about divestment. A grand time will be had. A record number of chickens will roost in a Zoom Room. Mr Fox will be present!

* Gerard Fox, chair of the East Sussex Pension Committee
** ‘Most people to attend a Zoom protest wearing a chicken mask’.

Campaigners to hold ‘chicken-in’ protest over Council’s fossil fuel investments

Press Release
Divest East Sussex [1]
21 August 2020
More info: 07596 483 272
PHOTO: https://tinyurl.com/twochickens [CAPTION: Two fossil fuel chickens prepare for this Saturday’s (22 August) Zoom protest: Councillor Fox: Don’t let your fossil fuel chickens come home to roost!’]

CAMPAIGNERS TO STAGE CHICKEN PROTEST OVER COUNTY COUNCIL’S CLIMATE FAILURE
Online world record attempt calls on Councillor Fox not to let East Sussex County Council’s ‘fossil fuel chickens’ come home to roost



Saturday 22 August: Members of the public from across Brighton and East Sussex will be donning chicken masks to stage an online ‘chicken-in’ protest tomorrow Saturday (22 August) as part of the campaign to get East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to stop investing in the giant oil and gas companies that are driving the climate crisis [2].

Over eighty people have already registered to take part in the protest, ‘Councillor Fox: Don’t let ESCC’s fossil fuel chickens come home to roost’, which will feature a specially-written song (‘Things are getting hot down here in the henhouse’) and a short play (‘Silly chickens and their fossil fool investments’). The event will also be a world record attempt: ‘Most people to attend a Zoom protest wearing a chicken mask’.

County Council fails to provide substantive answers to the 241 questions it received on fossil fuel divestment

Two hundred and forty one members of the public sent fossil-fuel-divestment-related questions to East Sussex County Council (ESCC)’s 7 July Full Council meeting – roughly twice the total number of questions that they had received on the topic during the previous three years. As at 31 March 2019 ESCC had some £137.8m of local people’s pensions invested in fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) through the East Sussex Pension Fund.

The Chair of the East Sussex Pension Committee (Councillor Gerard Fox) provided a single response to all 241 questions. As has been standard practice over the last three years he responded to the questions rather than actually answering them (see [1] below for details) – and the Chair of the Council refused to allow any follow-up questions from members of the public during the meeting itself, as usually happens.

Most importantly Councillor Fox failed to explain how the Council’s continued investment in fossil fuels companies could be squared with its October 2019 declaration of a ‘climate emergency’.

Council meeting sent over 135 questions about its oil and gas investments

Press Release
Divest East Sussex [1]
6 July 2020
More info: 07596 483 272

COUNCIL MEETING SENT OVER 135 QUESTIONS ABOUT ITS OIL AND GAS INVESTMENTS
Pressure mounts for East Sussex County Council to divest as Shell and BP forced to write-down up to $40bn of assets

Monday 6 July: At least 137 people have submitted questions to tomorrow’s (7 July) East Sussex County Council (ESCC) meeting, raising questions about the Council’s continued investment in giant oil and gas companies like BP and Exxon and calling on the Council to divest.

The questions – which have been submitted by people from across East Sussex, as well as from Brighton and Hove [2] – draw attention to the glaring incompatibility of such investments with the Council’s October 2019 declaration of a ‘climate emergency’ [3] and the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has dragged forward the point of peak demand for fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas), with potentially disastrous consequences for investors. [4] The Council has written to questioners to tell them that ‘given the large number of public questions the Chairman … will not allow any public questioner to ask a supplementary question’ at Tuesday’s meeting.

Divestment campaign scores first significant win as East Sussex County Council confirms that it’s moving to halve its fossil fuel investments

Campaigners who have been calling on East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to stop investing in fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) [1] scored their first major win today (22 June 2020), as the East Sussex Pension Committee confirmed that it was is in the process of making changes that should reduce the East Sussex Pension Fund’s exposure to fossil fuels from 4% to 2% (though it’s unclear over what timeframe) [2]. However, the three Conservative members of the five-person Pension Committee – the ultimate decision-making body for the East Sussex Pension Fund – continue to resist calls to fully divest the Fund from fossil fuels.