Hastings campaigners join 72-hour ‘fast for fossil fuel divestment’ ahead of crucial meeting

‘It’s time to stop investing in the companies driving the climate crisis’ say fasters, after world experiences the hottest week ever recorded. Erica Smith reports.

Campaigners from Hastings and St Leonards will begin a 72-hour long ‘fast for fossil fuel divestment’ tomorrow (Monday 17 July), calling on the East Sussex Pension Fund to stop investing in the giant fossil fuel companies that are driving the climate crisis.

The fast will culminate in a four-hour vigil, 9am–1pm, outside County Hall in Lewes this Thursday (20 July), where the Fund’s decision-making body, the East Sussex Pension Committee, will be holding a special meeting.

It also takes place in the wake of the world experiencing the hottest week ever recorded (between 3–10 July), with red weather alerts issued across Europe and warnings issued for more than 100 million across the US. An estimated 61,000 people are estimated to have died from the high temperatures that hit Europe last summer.

The East Sussex Pension Fund, which covers Brighton & Hove as well as East Sussex, is administered by East Sussex County Council (ESCC). It currently has tens of millions of pounds of local people’s pension monies invested in oil and gas companies like Shell and BP.

‘At the heart of the climate crisis’

Last month the world’s leading diplomat, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, tweeted: ‘The fossil fuel industry is at the heart of the climate crisis. The problem is not simply fossil fuel emissions. It’s fossil fuels – period. Countries must progressively phase them out, moving to leave oil, coal and gas in the ground – and massively boost renewable investments.’

Rother District Council, Robertsbridge Parish Council, Bexhill Town Council, Hastings Borough Council, Brighton & Hove City Council, Lewes Town & District Councils and Peacehaven Town Council have all publicly backed divestment, yet the Fund has consistently refused to stop investing in these companies.

A £50k whitewash?

Thursday’s meeting, which will not be open to the public, is set to discuss a report on the “Merits of Divestment vs. Engagement” that the Committee requested in July 2022. The report, which may have cost the Fund as much as £50k, is currently being withheld from the public.

Moreover, campaigners fear that it is likely to be a whitewash: rehashing long-refuted arguments and ignoring crucial evidence.

‘Stop propping up the fossil fuel industry’

St Leonards-based faster Gary French said: ‘We all now agree that the “climate” is an emergency, and an emergency needs a immediate and effective response. June 2023 was the hottest on record, and Southern Europe is currently preparing for the possibility of a 50ºC daytime temperature, there just isn’t any more time to wait. Fasting for three days is no big deal. If we don’t stop propping up the fossil fuel industry, much much worse lies ahead!’

Hastings-based faster and Pension Fund member Jenny De Vuyst said: ‘The fossil fuel companies have lied to us over three decades and more. They cannot be trusted. East Sussex County Council must do the responsible thing and get rid of these investments in fossil fuels.’

Divest East Sussex spokesperson Gabriel Carlyle said: ‘As David Attenborough has said: “It’s crazy that our banks and our pensions are investing in fossil fuel, when these are the very things that are jeopardising the future that we are saving for.” It’s time for the East Sussex Pension Fund to stop investing in the companies driving the climate crisis!’

For more info about your local fossil fuel divestment campaign see https://divesteastsussex.wordpress.com

Also in: Campaigns

« ‘Soldarity with refugees’ protest in Bexhill
Save our railway ticket offices! »