Revealed: £16bn in Local Government Pensions fuelling climate crisis – report

Press release
Divest East Sussex [1]
Monday 23 October 2023
More info: 07596 483 272

PHOTO: https://tinyurl.com/divestprotest [CAPTION: Divestment campaigners protest outside County Hall, 21 March 2023. Credit: Natasa Leoni]

REVEALED: £16 BILLION IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT PENSIONS FUELLING CLIMATE CRISIS – REPORT
Renewed call for East Sussex Pension Fund to stop ‘clinging on’ to its remaining fossil fuel investments

Monday 23 October 2023: £16 billion of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is invested in the fossil fuel industry, according to new analysis by Platform and Friends of the Earth [2]. This includes over £8 billion of pensions invested in companies developing new oil and gas projects – despite clear guidance that investors should not be funding such projects [3]. These investments are turning “public savings into fossil fuel playthings,” say environmental campaigners.

The East Sussex Pension Fund, which runs that part of the LGPS covering Brighton & Hove and East Sussex, is administered by East Sussex County Council (ESCC). It currently has tens of millions of pounds of local people’s pension monies invested in oil and gas companies like Shell and BP [4].

Please raise fossil fuel divestment in the latest East Sussex Pension Fund members’ survey!

The East Sussex Pension Fund (ESPF) has recently sent a survey to some of its members, the deadline for which is 23 October 2023.

If you’ve received this survey then we strongly urge you to mention the Fund’s failure to divest from fossil fuels in your response and email us at divesteastsussex@gmail.com to let us know that you’ve done this.

One option is to do this under the ‘Any other feedback’ section – see our suggested text below.