‘Five years of campaigning and still no commitment to divesting’
Campaigners marched to Chichester’s County Hall, ‘died’ on its steps and sang in the council chamber to protest against West Sussex pension money being invested in fossil fuels.
Groups from all over the county gathered on Friday (October 22) before a meeting of the county council to make sure their voices were heard.
And heard they certainly were, especially when a small group of them burst into song as the meeting started – much to the annoyance of some of the councillors – before being asked to leave the building.
The pension fund is paid into by around 82,000 employees from 200 employers, including a range of public sector organisations.
It is administered by the council’s pension committee, acting as trustees on behalf of all members equally.
Emma Cameron, of Worthing Climate Action Network, said £128m of the fund was invested in fossil fuel and called on the council to divest.
She added: “We’ve been campaigning for five years now to get them to do this and, despite three motions, three demonstrations and two petitions, they still haven’t committed.”
A notice of motion from Labour group leader Caroline Baxter, calling for steps to be taken towards divestment, was submitted earlier this month but was not accepted for debate at the meeting.
Jeremy Hunt, cabinet member for finance and property, told Friday’s meeting: “We do not invest directly in individual stocks.
We invest through a fund manager, who has control of any investment choices. So it is not possible to pull out of individual stocks, even if we wanted to.”
But he updated councillors on how the fund was ‘positively moving’ towards seeking low carbon investments and described how there had to be a ‘transition period’.