£91m of council pensions pots in Shropshire invested in fossil fuels
More than £90 million of council workers' pensions in Shropshire are invested in fossil fuels, campaigners have claimed, with a six-figure sum also tied up in a tobacco company.
Figures released by a consortium of organisations suggest that 5.3 per cent of the total cash in the combined £1.7 billion pension fund of Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Councils is invested in companies involved in coal, oil and gas power generation.
The data was obtained by green campaign groups 350.org, Platform, Energy Democracy Project, and Friends of the Earth using freedom of information requests.
The information shows that just under £10 million is tied up in shares in Royal Dutch Shell, £8 million is invested in BP, £3.6 million is invested in mining giant Anglo American, £3.2 million in British Gas owner Centrica, and £1.6 million in BHP Billiton, another miner.
Just over £630,000 is invested in Lucky Strike cigarette maker British American Tobacco, the figures reveal, while £1.8 million is in BAE Systems.
Anna Galkina of Platform said: "Shropshire Pension Fund invests nearly £10 million in Royal Dutch Shell alone – a company responsible for reckless pollution from the Niger Delta to Alberta, Canada.
"But apart from backing climate-wrecking companies, investments like these risk the future of the pension pot itself, for if global carbon reduction targets are going to be met, the reserves of companies like Shell are grossly over-valued.
"Instead of backing risky and dangerous fossil fuels, Shropshire could be investing in clean energy and public goods like housing and transport."
On top of the £26 million worth of direct investments in fossil fuels the groups have also looked at the value of council pension investments in equity vehicles, estimating that 10 per cent of each shared fund is invested in fossil fuels. That gives the overall figure of £90.9 million.
Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin's pensions are in a pooled fund which is administered by Prudential, and which draws in contributions from a range of organisations around the county, including schools, colleges, and local health trusts.
Its policy document says that while its financial responsibilities are its "overriding duty" it "takes corporate governance and social responsibility seriously".
This includes its membership of the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum, which has joined a statement demanding that "oil, gas and coal companies should address climate-related risks".
Telford & Wrekin Council declined to comment on the figures. Shropshire Council has not yet commented.
Launching the figures as the latest UN international climate talks take place in Bonn, Germany, campaigners are calling for local authorities to "divest" or remove pension fund investments from the fossil fuel industry.
Nationally, £16.1 billion out of local authorities pension pots worth £287.9 billion is invested in the fossil fuel industry, with almost £7 billion almost directly invested in coal, oil and gas companies.
