Essex: Make £6.5bn pension fund greener, council told

Essex County Council has agreed to install solar panels on every available roof by 2050

A £6.5bn pension fund should be invested in more sustainable and net-zero firms, a council has been told.

The recommendation was from the Essex Climate Action Commission, which has advised Essex County Council on climate change.

The authority has agreed to several proposals from the commission to move Essex towards net zero by 2050.

Commission chairman, Jules Pretty, said: "There are opportunities there to show sustainable investment policies."

He said money from Essex County Council's pension scheme, one of the largest in local government, could be put into "the green finance that was discussed at COP26".

Conservative leader of the council, Kevin Bentley, said he was due to discuss the pension fund and would "accelerate" the work into investing it into sustainable firms.

"I couldn't agree more and I know my colleagues in the cabinet would agree with that too," he added.

According to the Local Democracy Report Service, the council's cabinet agreed to several recommendations from the commission including that solar panels be installed on every available roof on domestic, industrial and commercial buildings by 2050.

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All domestic gas boilers should also be replaced by carbon neutral alternatives, such as heat pumps, by 2040.

The commission said by 2030 city centre and town car congestion should be reduced by introducing dedicated, well-planned cycling and walking routes across all urban and rural locations and to all railway stations, while upgrading and expanding the National Cycle Network.

It also said three new subsidy-free "Park & Choose (pedal, scoot, stride)" sites should be introduced by 2030.

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