The public pensions fund says it campaigns for all companies it has an interest in to 'clean up their act' and become carbon neutral
More than £1.6bn of Greater Manchester's public pensions are funding fossil fuels, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. The Greater Manchester Pension Fund has been found to have the highest proportion of its investments tied up in fossil fuels nationally.
READ MORE: Activists have been protesting outside Greater Manchester MP's office for TWELVE weeks - this is whyThe Greater Manchester Pension Fund, which claims it is 'the biggest direct local government pensioner investor in renewable energy and energy efficiency', says it campaigns for all companies it has an interest in to 'clean up their act' and become carbon neutral.
Around 7.5 per cent of these investments were found to be linked to fossil fuels, as defined by German environment and human rights group, Urgewald. British campaign group Platform has called on local councils to stop using pensions to 'prop up this deadly industry'. A Greater Manchester Pension Fund spokesperson said: "The Greater Manchester Pension Fund takes its responsibilities very seriously in looking after the pension promises of more than 370,000 members, and its fiduciary duty in looking after the members’ interests and the assets of the fund and to employers and taxpayers, who underwrite pension liabilities.
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