Residents demonstrate for GM pension fund to stop funding climate change

Residents will demonstrate outside the Greater Manchester Pension Fund’s (GMPF) annual general meeting on Friday 19 October 2018 at 12.30pm.

They will call for the Fund to stop investing in fossil fuel companies and will present remnants from the recent moorland fires to delegates.

The GMPF is the UK’s biggest local authority pension fund and has over £1.2 billion directly invested in fossil fuel companies that engage in fracking, coal mining and oil and gas extraction.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/121867/greater-manchester-councils-put-%C2%A31-billion-into-fracking

Fossil Free Greater Manchester member Chris Smith said: “The devastating fires on Saddleworth Moor and Winter Hill are just a small taste of what’s to come unless we take action on climate change.

“We now know we have to take immediate steps to avoid a climate catastrophe, not carry on investing in fracking and other industries that are wrecking our climate.

“The Fund’s annual report shows they also have over £150,000 invested in fracking in Lancashire, contrary to most Greater Manchester authorities’ policies.”

The Fund’s AGM takes place as the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has made it clear that immediate action is required to limit global warming.

Chris added: “As we move away from our dependence on fossil fuels, we don’t want local pensioners to suffer as these investments continue to lose value.”

A growing number of local authority pension funds have already begun to stop investing in fossil fuels, including Merseyside and South Yorkshire. 

Globally over 900 institutions have done so, with a value of over $7 trillion.