Climate activists to march through city after West County demos
Climate change protestors will march through Exeter later before heading to a makeshift camp at Devon’s County Hall - following days of action in the West County.
The protestors - who are camped beside the entrance to the building, but not blocking access - are doing it to call on the council's pension and investment committee to reduce the £100 million currently invested in fossil fuels.
The group set up camp on Wednesday and a spokesperson said: "The Divest Devon camp, which involves campaigners and activists from Extinction Rebellion and Friday’s for Future youth strike movement marks the beginning of an escalating series of actions aimed at Devon County Council which still has pension fund investments of over £150 million in fossil fuel companies including Shell, BP and Exxon Mobil.
"This is despite declaring a climate emergency over two years ago."
Ahead of today's 'Climate Strike' in Exeter's Bedford Square from 10am, they added: "This strike will mark the first time Exeter’s youth takes to the streets to protest climate inaction since the beginning of the pandemic.
"The injustices of the pandemic have shown us the vast extent of the change needed for a more equitable society. We fight for climate justice."
For more about the protest click here
Extinction Rebellion last night held a demo in Yeovil
A spokesperson for Devon County Council, which is the administering authority for the Devon Pension Fund, said: “We share many of the concerns that people have about climate change, which is why not only are we a lead partner in cutting carbon emissions across Devon, we’re also already on target to be a net-zero council within the next ten years.
"The Devon Pension Fund looks after the pensions of employees in the majority of Devon’s public sector organisations including emergency service staff and local councils. Tens of thousands of individuals and families in Devon rely on this fund’s investments.
"It’s already pledged that its portfolio of investments will be net-zero by 2050 at the latest with a target of decarbonising its current investments by seven per cent a year.
"It's now showing an overall reduction of 37 per cent in the Fund’s WACI (the measure of a portfolio’s investments in businesses that are deemed ‘carbon-intensive’) since March 2019, which is good progress towards the target of a 50 to 75 per cent reduction by 2030, and well ahead of the seven per cent per year target."