Protest placards in Lewes, October 2021. PHOTO: Katie Vandyck

East Sussex Pension Fund urged to follow CofE and ditch fossil fuel investments

The East Sussex Pension Fund is facing renewed calls to ditch its investments in fossil fuel companies, following a decision to do this by the Church of England last month. Erica Smith reports.

Over 50 members of the public, including Fund members, have submitted a question to East Sussex County Council (ESCC)’s next meeting, on 18 July. They draw the Council’s attention to the Church’s recent commitment and ask when the Fund will ‘stop providing political cover for these rogue companies and make its own public commitment to fully divest from fossil fuels’.

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.

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.

The Church of England has decided to sell its holdings in oil & gas companies ‘after concluding that none are aligned with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement’

On 22 June the Church of England announced that it would fully divest its £10.3bn endowment fund and its pension fund from fossil fuel companies this year. The church said that it had decided to sell its holdings in Shell, BP, Exxon and Total and seven other big oil and gas companies by the end of the year ‘after concluding that none are aligned with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement’.

Members of St John’s Eco Church group with rector David Hill, outside St John’s church in Hastings, April 2019. PHOTO: St John’s Eco Church group

The announcement follows Shell’s recent decision to abandon plans to cut oil production each year for the rest of the decade, and BP’s similar decision to scale back its plans to cut oil and gas production this decade.

‘We are facing environmental catastrophe and every organisation should be divesting from fossil fuels for the sake of all our earthly futures.’ – Father David Hill, rector of St John the Evangelist, Upper St Leonards

A spokesperson for Divest East Sussex said: ‘After years of fruitless “shareholder engagement”, the Church of England has finally lost patience with oil and gas companies’ greenwash and made a public commitment to fully divest from fossil fuels. It’s high time for the East Sussex Pension Fund to follow suit and make its own public commitment to stop investing in the giant oil & gas companies, like Shell and BP, that are driving the climate crisis.’

Father David Hill, rector of St John the Evangelist, Upper St Leonards – which in 2019 became the first church in East Sussex to pass a motion in favour of the Church of England divesting from fossil fuels – said: ‘We are facing environmental catastrophe and every organisation should be divesting from fossil fuels for the sake of all our earthly futures.’

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