50 signatures reached
To: Bexley Council
Divest Bexley Council from fossil fuels
1. Immediately freeze any new investment in the top 200 publicly-traded fossil fuel companies
2. Divest from direct ownership and any commingled funds that include fossil fuel public equities and corporate bonds within 5 years.
Why is this important?
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.