APRIL 2019 Forum Press Release: Climate Change
Our Members Forum campaigns for sustainable investments by our fund.
We think pension funds, and investment managers, should not just seek financial short-term gains regardless of the long-term impact of damaging local communities and our future generations. After the IPCC warnings on the need to keep below 1.5 degrees C, we realise we must act on Climate Change. This concerns everyone, but especially young people, because it is their future. This is why young people are holding monthly protests. Climate Change affects our own grandchildren.
On 05 June 2019 (World Environment Day), a Treasury Committee launched a new inquiry into the decarbonisation of the UK economy and green finance. “Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time. With recent protests and demonstrations, it has shot up the political agenda ….
In our recent press releases we have listed areas where we think the fund has invested without regard to our communities (such as Wonga, fracking, tobacco, FOBTs, and rents from property which include a strip club), and we have suggested better investing ideas in areas such as housing and renewable energy for our communities.
How will Cheshire Pension Fund respond to the challenge of Climate Change?
All CPF Investments and Holdings are listed on the CPF website
Reports and Comments……
- President Obama has commented “A lot of those people can’t vote. They’re too young to vote. But they know what’s going on.”
- Carbon Brief have published an interactive analysis: Why children must emit eight times less CO2 than their grandparents
- Bloomberg reported in November 2018 – The environmental impact we are having on the planet is highlighted in this year’s Global Risks Report by the World Economic Forum. Four of the top five risks are environmental, and all have a higher-than-average likelihood of occurrence. It is time for governments and businesses to seize the initiative and pave the way for new opportunities
- The EU has shown how financial decisions can make the difference, see EU Guidance – Putting the Financial Sector at the Service of the Climate
- The Financial Conduct Authority has published guidance on Climate Change and Green Finance
- The CDP “Carbon Majors” report in 2017 shows just 100 companies are source of over 70% of emissions.“In particular, the report shows that investors in fossil fuel companies own a great legacy of almost a third of all industrial GHG emissions, and carry influence over one fifth of the world’s industrial GHG emissions today…..
- Legal & General publicise a new approach using their investing power
- The August 2018 report by BNP Paribas looks at the future of energy investing and argues economics now show little financial sense to produce oil for petrol and diesel when EVs powered by renewables offer a cheap, clean, efficient alternative.
www.cpfmembersforum.com 