A committee at the first Northern Ireland council to declare a climate emergency has now voted against divesting pensions from fossil fuels.
Green Party councillors in Ards and North Down Borough proposed a motion in July 2019 that the council ask public service pension fund manager NILGOSC to stop investing in coal, oil and gas.
But the DUP, UUP and independent councillors voted against the motion at the borough’s Corporate Committee meeting on Tuesday night.
Green Party councillor Stephen Dunlop has slammed the move.
He said: “We are in a climate emergency. We need full divestment from the coal, oil and gas industry.
“Council did hear from the pension provider, who advised council that it had divested some 80% of its investment in fossil fuels and was reluctant to divest further due to returns.
“This is not enough.”
Three councils in NI have already asked NILGOSC to divest all their funds from fossil fuels.
As a result of that pressure it appears they reduced direct investment by 80%.
David Murphy, chief executive and secretary of NILGOSC, told Belfast Live in August: “we are not aware of any coal, oil or gas equities on the list of direct holdings”.
In 2015 he added NILGOSC’s direct shareholdings in the coal, oil and gas sector were £167million and in August 2019 it stood at £33million – a drop of around 80%.
So as it stands, NILGOSC still has £33million in direct investment in oil, gas and coal firms.
According to their annual report ending March 31, 2020, the pension provider is managing a fund of £7.878billion.
Mr Murphy said they “don’t hold information on the constituent parts of the indices” when asked about indirect investment in carbon producing fuels.
Cllr Dunlop said the committee at Ards and North Down took the decision not to pressure NILGOSC to completely divest from fossil fuels “on the basis of a survey of 19 staff out for 800-plus across the Council who did not hold strong views on such an issue”.
In that survey, council has revealed that staff were asked if they agreed with “NILGOSC’s statement that divestment is a distraction. The real need is to reduce demand. The coal, oil and gas sector is not creating CO2”.
It appears 63% of those who took part in the survey agreed despite the huge amount of carbon emissions created by the sector which if not provided to end users, couldn’t be burned.
Cllr Dunlop added: “Despite this, DUP, UUP and independent Councillors voted against the Council backing divestment.
“Our role in local government is to influence in the most effective means possible, including where our pensions are invested to.
“Our Corporate Plan even states that ‘we are committed to a sustainable future, ensuring that the activities and decisions taken forward within this plan advance the economic, social and environmental needs of future generations’.
“This was not reflected in the decision taken on Tuesday evening.”
On the evening, Cllr Dunlop proposed that the original Notice of Motion be agreed. This was seconded by Cllr Mathison.
After discussion there was a recorded vote with 10 voting against, two for, one abstaining and two absent.
