Fossil Free Merseyside Local Government Divestment Campaign

Climate change is the biggest threat to the future of our global society.
Research carried out by Bill McKibben and 350.org has identified that fossil fuel companies declared reserves far exceed the amount that can be safely burned if we are to limit Co² in the atmosphere to a level that will keep projected temperature rises to within 2°C.
2°C was the “safe” level of temperature rises agreed at the Copenhagen Climate talks and that figure was based on the overwhelming scientific consensus among climate scientists.
To keep temperature rises below 2°C we need to limit the amount of Co² we emit and that means that 80% of the declared reserves of the largest 200 fossil fuel companies cannot be burned.
Temperature rises above 2°C will have devastating consequences for people, societies and eco-systems around the world.
There are moral reasons to divest. If business as usual means investing in an industry that will have devastating effects on future generations, this is an issue of inter-generational justice.
There are financial reasons. The value of the companies is based on the fossil fuel reserves which are held and their potential future profits, and given that 80% of known reserves must stay in the ground the value of these shares is vastly overestimated. The value of the shares are expected to fall dramatically in future and if we don't act quickly our investments will make a loss as 'stranded assets' when the Carbon Bubble bursts.
The Merseyside Pension fund currently has £198,897,000 directly invested in fossil fuel companies and another estimated £156,298,000 indirectly invested in commingled funds that include fossil fuel companies. This means in total the pension fund has £355,195,000 invested in fossil fuels.

For more information about divestment please visit http://gofossilfree.org/uk/