Councils urged to stop fracking investment

Environmental campaigners have urged Scottish councils to stop using pension funds to invest in fracking.

Friends of the Earth Scotland, 350.org and Platform have jointly published a report showing that local authorities in Scotland invest £972 million of pension fund money in 12 companies fracking overseas, including Conocophillips, BP and Shell.

The total across the UK of council pension fund investments in fracking is more than £9 billion, the report said.

Across Scotland, £35m more was found to be invested directly in fracking companies than revealed in a similar study in 2017.

Friends of the Earth Scot- 0 FOE’S Mary Church said fracking is ‘irresponsible’

land’s head of campaigns, Mary Church, said: “Opening up new frontiers of fossil fuels like fracked gas whether here or in the US is completely irresponsible in the context of the global climate crisis.

“If fracking is too dirty and dangerous for us here in Scotland, we shouldn’t be trying to profit from it taking place in other countries either.”