Fossil Free UK - Local Government

Campaigns (52)

• Divest Scottish Borders Council From Fossil Fuels

  Over £23 million of the Scottish Borders Council pension fund is currently invested in Fossil Fuels. (Divest and Reinvest Scotland Report) We need our council to take an active role in protecting our environment and the health of our communities, investing in fossil fuels is out dated and contributes to continuing climate change. As well as contributing to the destruction of our planet these funds are now at risk as fossil fuels become a thing of the past - we need our council to secure these funds for their employees by investing in technologies of the future including renewable energy and investing in our communities.

  118 of 200 Signatures

  Created by Pauline Stewart
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  Divest Dorset From Fossil Fuels

  Fossil Fuels are now proven to be responsible for a large, and growing, number of harmful effects which harm the natural environment, people, and wildlife, and no economic case can be made which can justify the damage being done nor which could support the remedial action necessary to prevent damage being passed on to future generations

  118 of 200 Signatures

  Created by Charles Miller
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  Ask Hampshire County Council to stop investing in Fossil Fuels

  Our local authority has a duty to look out for the public good. Fossil fuels are in direct conflict with the public good:investing in them poses a risk to both investors and the planet. Even President Obama has admitted that 'no challenge poses a greater threat to our future and future generations than a change in climate'. Over 97% of scientists now agree that climate change is fuelled by the burning of fossil fuels. This causes problems both worldwide and within Hampshire, where we will see increasing areas of low lying land become prone to flooding. Institutions around the world including local government, universities and churches are pulling out of fossil fuels investments and moving towards a cleaner energy future. It's now time to divest from fossil fuels and reinvest in a better future. Financial research has called into question the valuation of fossil fuel companies due to their reliance on reserves which would become unburnable if international carbon legislation comes into effect. Divestment from fossil fuels would minimise the council's exposure to the financial risk of the 'carbon bubble', whereby shareholders risk being left with 'stranded assets' (worthless fuels stocks that regulations will prevent from being burned.)

  97 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Grace Hall
• Bexley
  Divest Bexley Council from fossil fuels

  Bexley Council's huge investments in fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) are a matter of financial and ethical concern for everyone living in the borough of Bexley. Bexley Pension Fund is responsible for the incomes of Bexley pensioners and invests around £30m in fossil fuel companies including Glencore, Suncor and Tullow Oil. There is strong evidence that these investments in fossil fuel companies are highly risky in the short and long term. And in the event of their investments falling in value, the shortfall has to be paid for by council taxpayers. At the same time these fossil fuel investments are a direct contributor to damaging man-made climate change. This is of particular relevance to Bexley residents as the area will be severely affected by future flooding caused by climate change - a risk acknowledged by Bexley Council itself. This pointless gamble with our future is due to an unwillingness of the council's financial advisers, including UBS, to stray beyond the herdlike 'business as usual' thinking that led to the 2008 financial crash. It therefore makes financial and ethical sense to stop investing in these companies. We are concerned residents calling on Bexley Council to show leadership and commit to divesting from fossil fuels joining public institutions including Haringey Council, British Medical Association, Stanford University, Oxford City Council and Bristol City Council.

  82 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Samuel Martin
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  DIVEST Lincolnshire County Council Pension Fund from Fossil Fuels

  Lincolnshire - on the front line of global warming. Climate Change has caused, and is predicted to cause, a much greater risk of flooding and extreme weather but Lincolnshire is uniquely vulnerable to rising sea level. The Council recognises the potential impacts of global warming yet its pension fund invests over £100,000,000 in the very fossil fuel companies that are causing climate change. About 7% of the County’s pension fund, is invested in causing the problem. Most of the world’s coal, oil and gas reserves must remain in the ground, unburnt if we are to avoid catastrophic global warming. As governments begin to regulate more closely, policy changes and oversupply of fossil fuels globally will see the value of carbon plummet, reserves will become stranded assets; their share prices will collapse. This makes investing in fossil fuels increasingly risky for all stakeholders. Financial experts, including the Bank of England, Goldman Sachs, Standard and Poor's and AXA, have warned of the economic risk that climate change policies pose to fossil fuel companies. Lincolnshire County Council needs to be ahead of the curve by divesting quickly to safeguard the future pensions of all its shareholders. Lincolnshire County Council recognises that it must do whatever it can to tackle climate change and it has a responsibility to divest from an industry that jeopardises the future of our planet. Yet the short term financial gain that the Pension Fund Committee hopes to achieve comes at the risk of financial loss as well as a cost to people and planet. We hope Lincolnshire County Council pension trustees are aware of September’s UNEP Finance Initiative Report, Fiduciary Duty in the 21st Century – which concludes that: "Failing to consider long-term investment value drivers, which include environmental, social and governance issues, in investment practice is a failure of fiduciary duty.” Instead of fossil fuel investment, the Pension Fund Committee should invest in solutions to climate change, investments that protect pensions and planet, joining The British Medical Association, Bristol City Council and Oxford City Council who have all recently agreed to make the commitment to no direct investment in the fossil fuel industry. Globally Lincolnshire County Council would join over 400 institutions and 2000 individuals with an asset base of $2.6 trillion who are already divesting across the world. --ENDS-- Please sign the petition and encourage others to do so. For data on Local Authority pension fund investment in fossil fuels see http://gofossilfree.org/uk/pensions/ and http://math.350.org/ Petition from Biff Vernon for Transition Town Louth

  72 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Biff Vernon
• London
  

  Divest City of Westminster Borough from Fossil Fuels

  The 33 London local authorities’ pension funds are investing £1,882 million in fossil fuel companies, averaging just over 6% of their total pension investments. Westminster with 7.8% of its total pension invested in fossil fuels is among the 10 London councils with the highest percentage investments. Why Divest? Local authorities in the UK led the way on divesting from apartheid in the 1980s. They can do so again to challenge catastrophic climate change. Moral Argument - Financial Argument – Public Benefit Argument Pensions are for our and our families’ future. But that future is threatened by fossil fuel extraction. It is also a financial argument. When governments finally take climate change seriously and legislate to leave fossil fuels in the ground, shares in oil, gas and coal will become worthless. Funds which don’t invest in fossil fuels often perform as well or better than fossil-fuel heavy funds, so divestment does not mean that existing pension funds lose out. And it is a public benefit argument. By investing this capital into renewable energy, public transport and social housing, local government could create jobs and boost local economies, while protecting pensions.

  67 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Alex Horn
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  Divest Staffordshire Pension Fund

  Staffordshire Pension Fund is the Local Government Pension Fund for the county of Staffordshire and is funded through pension contributions from employees of publicly-funded organisations such as Staffordshire County Council, Stoke City Council, the Office of the Chief Constable Staffordshire, Staffordshire University, Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and other parishes, towns, boroughs and public organisations across Staffordshire. As of 31 December 2015, the Pension Fund holds at least £61,879,853.16 worth of shares in companies from the fossil fuel industry, including £20,180,703.41 worth of shares in six of the world's biggest oil companies: BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Statoil, Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Lukoil, who are jointly responsible for major environmental damage and human rights violations the world over. In total, the Pension Fund holds £42,334,871.79 in 14 of the 90 companies responsible for two-thirds of the global greenhouse gases emissions since 1854. By continuing to grant social legitimacy to the burning of fossil fuels, the Staffordshire Pension Fund and all its participating organisations are complicit in driving unprecedented climate change. Climate change is happening now - we’re already experiencing global temperature rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets and more frequent and intense extreme weather events affecting thousands of communities and millions of people across the world. Investing in fossil fuels is not only damaging to the planet, it's also a very risky investment. The Staffordshire Pension Fund has already seen a massive decrease in its investment, losing £21,573,041.12 (or 25.85%) worth of shares in companies such as Glencore, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Lukoil and others. By removing investments in fossil fuel companies, the Staffordshire Pension Fund and all its participating bodies and organisations will be showing their commitment to creating a healthy, sustainable and financially viable future for both the people of Staffordshire and the planet as a whole. Please sign this petition if you believe that the Staffordshire Pension Fund should divest from fossil fuels to protect the planet and the financial future of thousands of workers from across Staffordshire.

  36 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Tomasz Kozlowski
• Kensington & Chelsea Council Divest from Fossil Fuel Investments

  It is imperative to divest from fossil fuel investments for both ethical and financial reasons. To avoid catastrophic climate change and keep global temperatures below more than 2ºC above pre-industrial levels, more than 80 per cent of the world’s known coal reserves, 30 per cent of known oil and 50 per cent of gas reserves are unburnable.[1] Oxfam has already confirmed that the poor and struggling people that they work with are reporting ever-changing and unpredictable weather patterns, which contribute to deeper and longer lasting floods in South Asia; irregular rainfall in Mozambique, or hotter temperatures that are melting glaciers in Bolivia and Tajikistan.[2] Climate change may also wipe out $2.5 trillion, or 1.8 percent of the world's financial assets by the end of this century if the planet continues to warm at its current rate, according to a recent study in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Climate Change.[3] In a speech at Lloyd’s of London in September 2015, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England said that by the time ‘climate change becomes a defining issue for financial stability, it may already be too late’. Carney warned investors that policies to address climate change ‘would render the vast majority of reserves ‘stranded’ – oil, gas and coal that will be literary unburnable’. [4] Many have already divested. AXA in 2015 announced that it was selling $500 million of coal stocks.[4] We therefore believe that the Council should help prevent climate change and reduce its exposure to climate and carbon related risks by divesting of these assets. [1] https://www.carbonbrief.org/meeting-two-degree-climate-target-means-80-per-cent-of-worlds-coal-is-unburnable-study-says [2] http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what-we-do/issues-we-work-on/climate-change#8f355e95-4248-47d2-8973-920be53a9fde [3] https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04042016/study-warning-wall-street-financial-risks-stranded-assets-climate-change-trillion-dollars [4] http://www.carbontracker.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/CAR3817_Synthesis_Report_24.11.15_WEB2.pdf

  27 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Felix Grenfell Bozek
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  Divest Northamptonshire From Fossil Fuels

  In order to stop the global climate warming by 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and avert global catastrophe, 80% of all known fossil fuels must stay in the ground. [1] By removing investments in fossil fuel companies Northamptonshire County Council will be showing its commitment to creating a healthy, sustainable future for both the people of Northants and the planet as a whole. 97% of climate scientists agree that humans are the primary cause of recent climate change, largely due to the release of greenhouse gases from the combustion of oil, coal and gas for heat and power. Climate change is happening now - we’re already experiencing global temperature rise, warming oceans, shrinking ice sheets and more frequent and intense extreme weather events. [2] Whole ecosystems are threatened, and people's lives are at risk due to flooding, food and water insecurity, creating climate change refugees. [3] NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Northamptonshire Local Government Pension Scheme Fund Total-£1,659,847,000 Total Fossil Fuel Investment- £171,800,000 (10.35%) Direct Investments- £115,377,000 (6.95%) Projected Indirect Investments-£56,423,000.00 (3.39%) [4] [1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30709211 [2] http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/ [3] http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e4a5096.html [4] http://gofossilfree.org/uk/pensions/

  20 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Northants FoE Local group
• Campaigning for Northumberland's council pension fund to divest

  With only 12 years left to drastically reduce CO2 emissions we simple do not have time to continue to fund companies who continue to burn fossil fuels

  12 of 100 Signatures

  Created by Sarah Smith