Local government pension fund to drop investments in failing fossil fuel firms
Glasgow is due to host the Cop26 climate change conference this November (Richard McCarthy/PA)
Scotland’s largest local government pension fund has announced it will drop investments in fossil fuel firms which fail to meet environmental standards.
The Strathclyde Pension Fund, which is worth £24 billion and has around 250,000 members, will become one of the first major funds in the world to adopt such a divestment policy.
Members of the Strathclyde Pension Fund Committee agreed the move on Wednesday afternoon in response to a call from Glasgow City Council – the fund’s biggest employer member.
Campaigners had called for the £24bn fund to divest from fossil fuels altogether, but instead a climate test will be used SCOTLAND’S largest local government pension fund has said it will drop investments in fossil fuel firms that fail to act on the climate emergency following calls from protesters. Protesters gathered in Glasgow’s George Square on May 29 and 31 urging the city’s pension fund to end its £508 million investments in coal, oil and gas companies to tackle the worsening global warming crisis. While the £24 billion Strathclyde Pension Fund has agreed to divest from companies which “don’t take their responsibilities on carbon or climate seriously”, it has not said that it will drop fossil fuels from its portfolio altogether.