Collecting signatures for fossil fuel divestment petition

Call for fossil fuel divestment

People from around East Sussex will be gathering at County Hall next Tuesday (12 July) to hand in a petition calling on East Sussex County Council to divest the East Sussex Pension Fund of its investments in fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). Report from Fossil Free Hastings.

The petition can still be signed through till next Monday (11 July) and is available online at Divest The East Sussex Pension Fund.

The East Sussex Pension Fund – which is administered by the County Council and holds the pensions for a wide range of organisations from across East Sussex – currently has an estimated £172 million invested in the fossil fuel industries (oil, coal and gas).

The hand-in of the petition on 12 July has been timed to coincide with the next full council meeting of East Sussex County Council. It also takes place in the wake of the recent unanimous cross-party motion passed by Hastings Borough Council – a member of the Pension Fund – calling for the Fund to be divested from fossil fuels.

On 12 July, campaigners will hold a vigil outside County Hall in Lewes from 8.30am, leafleting councillors and other local pension holders, before handing in the five-meter-long petition at around 9.40am. The petition has been signed by hundreds of people from across East Sussex, including residents of Battle, Bexhill, Brighton, Eastbourne, Etchingham, Hastings, Heathfield, Hove, Lewes, Polegate, Seaford, St Leonards and Uckfield.

Arkady Johns from St Leonards said: “Investments in oil, coal and gas are not only damaging the balance of our climate but also pose serious financial risks to investors, including many local pension holders. Last year the Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, warned that investors face ‘potentially huge’ losses from climate change action that could make vast reserves of oil, coal and gas ‘literally unburnable’.

“Over 500 institutions, representing over $3 trillion in assets, have already committed to ditch their investments in these dirty fuels. That’s why hundreds of people from around East Sussex are now calling on East Sussex County Council to follow these institutions’ lead and divest the East Sussex Pension Fund of its holdings in oil, coal and gas.”

Fossil fuel divestment gathering: 8.30am–10am, Tuesday 12 July, County Hall, St Anne’s Crescent, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1UE.

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