Fossil Fuel Council Motion

16 January 2022

• The Glasgow Pact is a significant deal, signalling the end of coal, oil and gas - and it's wide agreement by leaders to "keep 1.5C alive".

• The moral authority shown by climate activists, based on climate science, has been clear in setting this higher ambition.

• However the Glasgow Pact did not secure National Determined Contributions (NDCs) to stay within 1.5C so will be only a game changer if we get our act together over the coming year, which depends on what the UK does with its continued presidency of COP, and the wider actions and leadership across the UK.

 

This Council further notes that:

• The most climate - vulnerable countries are calling for natural justice, for the rich countries to pay for current losses and damages based on historic greenhouse gas emissions; and 

• -That the world's governments must accept we are now in climate emergency mode and come back next year with plans and pledges that at least halve carbon emissions this decade and set carbon budgets that stay well within the 1.5C limit.

 

Therefore this Council calls on the UK government to:

 

1. Reverse Official Development Assistance (ODA, "aid") budget cuts

2. Conduct an independent review into UK fossil fuel subsidies and set out a plan and timetable to phase these out.

3. Put climate change at the heart of all future trade deals, and call for an end to the investor-state dispute settlement (so called "corporate courts") that allow companies to sue governments for taking climate action (see www.globaljustice.org.uk).

4. Commit to no more coal, oil (je or gas) extraction in the UK, or through UK investments overseas.

5. Commit to no airport expansion across the UK, and for international aviation and shipping decarbonisation to be included in NDCs, and in future trade deals.

6. Cancel the UK's current road building programme and divert spending to local council zero carbon transport plans.

7. Commit that UK international climate finance is provided in addition to existing official development assistance (ODA) as agreed at the Copenhagen and Paris climate summits and for this to include funds for climate mitigation, adaptation and loss and damage payments.

 

The Borough Council further notes that 

• Staffordshire County Council Pension fund has around £200m invested in fossil fuels via the Local Government Pension Scheme.

• The United Nations Paris 2015 Agreement commits our governments to keep the global temperature increase to under 2 degrees and aim for 1.5 degrees. Carbon budgets produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, United Nations and the International Energy Agency show that preventing two degrees of warming relies on not burning 60-80% of all proven fossil fuels.

• There is increased emphasis by the UK government on showing global climate leadership, especially in relation to finance. Divesting our pension is a clear and meaningful action that can be taken at a local government level. 

• Fossil fuel investments are financially risky as a result of both the Covid19 pandemic and the global transition to a more sustainable economic and environmental model. They are now being consistently out-performed by renewables.

• Former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney warned in December 2019 that fossil fuel investments risk becoming “stranded assets” (i.e., worthless) as investors exit the sector. “A question for every company, every financial institution, every asset manager, pension fund or insurer – what’s your plan?”

• As continued investments in fossil fuels pose material financial risks to portfolios, funds have fiduciary duties to consider the benefits of decarbonising as part of their investment strategies. Fiduciary duty is defined by the Law Commission as ‘ensuring that pensions can be paid, ensuring that this is undertaken at the best possible value’.

• Pension funds have a legal duty to treat members “fairly as between them”. That means taking seriously the longer-term interests of younger members who may well be affected more by the climate transition.

This Council therefore agrees :

 

1. To review its Investment Strategy and develop and implement a Responsible Investment Policy which rules out new investments in fossil fuel companies. 

2. Call on Staffordshire County Council pension fund to divest from fossil fuels and the development and adoption of responsible investment policies which:

a. Immediately freeze any new investment in the top 200 publicly-traded fossil fuel companies.

b. Divest from direct ownership and any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds within 5 years

c. Set out an approach to quantify and address climate change risks affecting all other investments.

d. Actively seek to invest in companies that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and minimise climate risk. 

3. Recognise that fossil fuel investments should be considered as part of the council’s ‘carbon footprint’ and divesting our pension fund is one of the most impactful steps we can take to reduce our impact on our community and the world.

 

 

 

 

You can ask your Councillor / MP to divest in fossil fuels by using the below letter templates

 

Dear Ms Clarke….

As host of COP26, Alok Sharma welcomed the International Energy Agency’s report (IEA) which said unequivocally that if we are to stay within the 1.5°C limit no new extraction of coal, oil, or natural gas should be approved, in this country or abroad.  I hope you will urge the Government to adhere to the COP26 commitments and reject plans from the fossil fuel companies to launch the 40 proposed coal, oil and gas extraction projects.

It is a matter of great concern and makes a sham of COP26 and the Paris agreement that the UK government continued to fund the Cabo Delgado project in Mozambique to the tune of 1.15 billion dollars. The fact that the funding, a combination of loans and guarantees, from the government’s export credit agency, was approved a few months after COP 26 is in my view rank hypocrisy.

 Under the Paris agreement the UK government has a responsibility to help developing countries increase their capacity for renewable energy, not exploit the resources of one of the poorest countries in the world and one which is most affected by climate change. 

It would be good if the government gave some assurances that the Mozambique project will be the last deception from a government that is quick to rate itself as world leading in the fight against climate collapse.

 

Yours sincerely,

Dear Cllr ……

A global climate crisis is underway, with extreme weather and rising sea levels threatening the lives of billions of people. Meanwhile, local councils across the UK continue to invest around £10 billion of their pension funds in the main culprits, fossil fuel companies, despite 75% of councils declaring a climate emergency.

Declaring a climate emergency while investing in fossil fuels is empty rhetoric. Councils have the responsibility to ensure local workers not only have a pension for their retirement, but also a future worth retiring into.

As we recover from the pandemic, we can choose to stick to old systems of investment that keep accelerating the climate crisis, or we can invest local money in ways that matter for local people and their future.

Halting the extraction and expansion of fossil fuels is a matter of survival for us all. It is clear that central government is covertly continuing to fund oil and gas extraction as the Cabo Delgado project in Mozambique indicates, so it is urgent that our councils show local leadership by divesting their pension funds and ending their support for the companies driving the climate crisis. Investment in fossil fuel is investment lost to renewables, skilled employment in an emerging industry, retrofitting homes and future climate stability. 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

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