They urge the fund managers to divest from companies creating climate change
Climate activists will picket the AGM of Strathclyde Pension Fund tomorrow (14 June) in protest against its investments in companies driving climate change,
Pension fund members and local residents will take part in the protest of the Glasgow City Council-managed fund which is estimated to have £800 million-worth of investments in fossil fuel companies.
That is despite the fact the council recently declared a climate emergency.
SPF blocked fund members from attending the AGM, which is being held at the Royal Concert Hall, a change of policy from 2018 when ordinary fund members and pensioners were enabled to attend and ask questions of management.
The Fund has some 221,000 members in the West of Scotland including councillors, council employees such as college staff and others such as housing association employees.
Groups joining the protest will include Divest Strathclyde, Extinction Rebellion Glasgow, Unison, Fossil Free Glasgow and Frackwatch.
Geraldine Clayton, pension fund member and protest spokesperson, said: "The UK Climate Change Committee has recently said we must urgently tackle climate change, and that government must put the issue at the heart of their policy decisions. The Scottish Government have accepted their recommendations to fully decarbonise Scotland's economy. This means Scotland's future will be fossil-fuel free.
“If the Strathclyde Pension Fund does not divest it could well find itself landed with an energy portfolio containing stranded fossil fuel assets. I hope the fund managers see that the scheme is now due for an overhaul of policy to make it fit for the 21st century."
Daniel McMahon, Fossil Free Glasgow added: “I don’t know what the world will look like by the time I am of pension age, whether climate chaos will have had terrible impacts on the human population and all beings on the planet.
“That depends on the actions of the current generation of decision makers in countries within the Global North and financial institutions, like pension funds, to prevent this nightmare from being unleashed upon us all. If the Pension Fund really cared about our future they would divest from fossil fuels.”
A number of public pension funds have pledged to divest from fossil fuels, including the Islington, Waltham Forest and Southwark Local Government Funds in London, and the City of New York Pension Fund.
