Campaigners call for Dorset Council to ditch pension investments in fossil fuels
Dorset Action on Pensions will be protesting outside County Hall in Dorchester this morning
Last updated 11th Mar 2022
Campaigners are gathering outside County Hall in Dorchester today to protest at Dorset Council's pension investments in fossil fuels.
Dorset Action on Pensions claim by divesting the circa £128 million currently invested in fossil fuels by Dorset's Pension Fund will realise a carbon saving of 83,000 tonnes of CO2.
Julie-Ann Booker from Dorset Action on Pensions said:
“There is not a single justification to keep investing pension fund members' and council tax payers' money in planet-destroying fossil fuel companies.
"Divestment is morally, environmentally and economically the right thing to do. Even the likes of Blackrock have said there is no financial drawback to divesting from fossil fuels.”
Julie-Ann is a pensioner in the Dorset scheme and feels terrible that her income is linked to these non-renewables organisations. She added:
“We urge Dorset County Pension Fund to do the right thing; stop funding fossil fuel, invest in our future, a genuinely green future for our children. This will also create good jobs and provide energy security, which we need now more than ever.”
A report by Make My Money Matter (October 2021) claims that the UK pensions industry enables more CO2 than all UK carbon emissions.
The report says:
“Pension schemes fund an estimated 330 million tonnes of carbon emissions every year. If the pensions industry were a country, it would find itself in the top 20 carbon emitters globally.
“Making your pension green is 21x more powerful than giving up flying, going veggie and switching energy provider. It is calling on people to tell their pension providers to go green. It’s the most powerful thing you can do for the planet.”
Local divestment campaigner and pension fund member Caz Dennett said:
“Now is the time to clean up our Dorset pension fund, not just from those who wage war on other countries, but from fossil fuel companies who persist with operations in the full knowledge that they are devastating life on earth.
“Please join us at County Hall to push for divestment, and release pension fund members and council tax payers from the burden of financing companies who are destroying their future.”
Dorset Council response
A Dorset Council spokesperson said:
"We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint and our reliance on fossil fuels and along with significant investment over the next five years in services for residents and in our buildings, we are working to divert our pension fund away from investment in fossil fuels.”
More information on the approach being taken by Brunel.