Pension pot is funding "climate change destruction and war", says councillor

A pension fund with 400,000 members in Greater Manchester is putting money into “climate change destruction and war”, a councillor has claimed.

The Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) is one of the largest pension pots in the country and includes workers at councils, charities, civilian staff in the police, and the education sector.

But councillors in Manchester today (November 27) said the pot is giving £1.5 billion to the fossil fuel industry, as well as £24m to companies ‘known to have subsidiary arms that are defence manufacturers.’

The GMPF, which is run by Tameside council and has a total value of nearly £30 billion, is used by more than 600 employers in the region and pays out more than £880m of benefits each year.

At a Manchester City Council meeting on 27 November, Green Party Councillor Astrid Johnson said money from the pension fund is “implicating” Greater Manchester in global conflicts.

“The impacts of climate change and armed conflict are not distant events to us,” she added, explaining that there are “weekly protests” in Manchester related to world events and “local families who have lost loved ones.”

A motion on the issue called on the council to ask GMPF to create a ‘clear fossil fuel divestment’ plan, as well as to ‘list investments in companies associated with breaches of international law or human rights abuses’ through the weapons industry.

Labour Councillor Joanne Green said: “We can all agree that £24 million invested in companies with subsidiary arms manufacturers, is £24 million too much.” But she added that the calls being made to GMPF are “hamstrung by a lack of legal powers to take meaningful action”.

The motion was amended by Labour and passed a vote in the council chamber. Tameside council was approached for comment.

Before the council meeting, campaign groups have been making the case to change how the GMPF invests its cash. Some of these groups set up outside Manchester town hall ahead of the council meeting to share their views.

Anne Webster, 65, was one of those who attended as part of Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine.

Ms Webster said she is in the Greater Manchester Pension Fund and does not want her money being used for “burning up the planet” or to fund war.

Politicians from other parts of the region have also backed calls to change the pension fund. Hazel Grove MP Lisa Smart was part of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund Management Panel before being elected to Parliament in July.

She said: “I think the pension fund could and should go further and faster to divest, and they should do more to engage pensioners and pension fund members in what’s being invested in their name.”

Declan Carey, Local Democracy Reporter