Divest Scotland
100 signatures reached
To: Strathclyde Pension Fund
Divest Strathclyde Pension Fund from fossil fuel investments
I call on Strathclyde Pension Fund to divest from fossil fuels in the face of long term financial risks and local and global injustice posed by climate change. I support ethical investment in cleaner and greener alternatives to create a more financially and environmentally sustainable pension fund.
Why is this important?
Fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas - are the main drivers of climate change. In order to keep climate change at bay, we need to halt our extractions of fossil fuels, and must break our public institutions' financials ties with the fossil fuel industry.
During the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), in Paris in December, 2015, 196 Nations agreed to keep global warming well below 2°C and attempt to “limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees”. This is a turning point for the energy industry since fossil fuels will need to be phased out, and there needs to be a shift towards clean energy in order to achieve the target of zero net emissions by 2050. The outcome of the Paris agreement has thus drawn a critical line for the fossil fuel industry: to prevent a temperature rise over 2°C, 80 % of existing fossil fuel reserves MUST stay underground.
Currently, Strathclyde Pension Fund (SPF) holds almost £20 billion in total investments, of which over £802 million are currently invested into the fossil fuel industry. [1]
It delivers to over 222,0000 members and more than 180 organisations from 12 local authorities that are included in the former Strathclyde Area. The SPF has stated that their ‘"traditional approach to responsible investment has been, by and large, top-down - ensuring that environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) concerns in our portfolios are recognised and addressed". Yet, the fund is still deeply invested in the main drivers for climate change and social injustice.
We call on SPF's immediate freeze of new investments into fossil fuel industries as well as divestment of all current holdings in it. By doing so, SPF would show their ethical and financial responsibility to their members and join 852 public institutions and councils across the world, including Derby, South Yorkshire and Oxford City Councils, Monmouthshire County Council, the City of New York, the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, UWS and Glasgow Caledonian, The British Medical Association and the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund. [2]
As the environmentalist, Bill McGibbon, says: "If it’s wrong to wreck the planet, then it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage."
Thank you for your support, and please share this petition to allow for more people to sign.
[1] https://foe.scot/resource/councils-fuelling-fire/
[2] https://gofossilfree.org/divestment/commitments/
[3] https://gofossilfree.org/do-the-math-fossil-fuel-investments-add-up-to-climate-chaos/
During the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21), in Paris in December, 2015, 196 Nations agreed to keep global warming well below 2°C and attempt to “limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees”. This is a turning point for the energy industry since fossil fuels will need to be phased out, and there needs to be a shift towards clean energy in order to achieve the target of zero net emissions by 2050. The outcome of the Paris agreement has thus drawn a critical line for the fossil fuel industry: to prevent a temperature rise over 2°C, 80 % of existing fossil fuel reserves MUST stay underground.
Currently, Strathclyde Pension Fund (SPF) holds almost £20 billion in total investments, of which over £802 million are currently invested into the fossil fuel industry. [1]
It delivers to over 222,0000 members and more than 180 organisations from 12 local authorities that are included in the former Strathclyde Area. The SPF has stated that their ‘"traditional approach to responsible investment has been, by and large, top-down - ensuring that environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) concerns in our portfolios are recognised and addressed". Yet, the fund is still deeply invested in the main drivers for climate change and social injustice.
We call on SPF's immediate freeze of new investments into fossil fuel industries as well as divestment of all current holdings in it. By doing so, SPF would show their ethical and financial responsibility to their members and join 852 public institutions and councils across the world, including Derby, South Yorkshire and Oxford City Councils, Monmouthshire County Council, the City of New York, the Universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, UWS and Glasgow Caledonian, The British Medical Association and the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund. [2]
As the environmentalist, Bill McGibbon, says: "If it’s wrong to wreck the planet, then it’s wrong to profit from that wreckage."
Thank you for your support, and please share this petition to allow for more people to sign.
[1] https://foe.scot/resource/councils-fuelling-fire/
[2] https://gofossilfree.org/divestment/commitments/
[3] https://gofossilfree.org/do-the-math-fossil-fuel-investments-add-up-to-climate-chaos/