Seventh NI council backs end to fossil fuel investments

Seven of the 11 councils in Northern Ireland have now joined a call for their workers' pension fund to divest from fossil fuels.

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Council voted on Monday.

It gave it unanimous cross-party support.

The motion called for the NI Local Government Superannuation Committee (NILGOSC) to increase its action on climate change and withdraw investments from fossil fuel companies.

NILGOSC runs the pension fund for 142,492 members, including civil servants, teachers and council employees.

It was valued at £9.975bn at the end of March.

In a report in 2019, titled Responding to Climate Change, it said it had reduced its exposure to coal, oil and gas by 80%, to 0.4% of the total fund.

Newry Mourne and Down was the first council to support the motion to divest from fossil fuels in March 2019.

'Risks to people and pensions'

Since then, another five councils followed suit - Belfast City, Fermanagh & Omagh, Derry City & Strabane, Mid Ulster and Lisburn City & Castlereagh.

A statement from the Waringstown Climate Action Group, which made a presentation to Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Council in February, welcomed the decision to back the motion.

"Continued burning of fossil fuels is leading to increasing risks to people and pensions in Northern Ireland," spokesperson Neil Harrison said.

"The climate emergency is evident in the destruction of farmland and biodiversity caused by wildfires, and the impact on infrastructure and homes from storms and floods is costing millions of pounds.

"For pension funds, there is a real risk that continuing to invest in fossil fuels will result in shocks and stranded assets, just as we are seeing with investments in Russian oil companies at the moment."

The council will now write to NILGOSC, asking it to set out "a clear timetable for full divestment of the remaining percentage of money that is raised through fossil fuel companies".

Many institutions have been divesting funds away from fossil fuels in recent years, including some of the main churches in Ireland - Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist - as well as both Queen's and Ulster universities.