We restate our aims and open dialogue with the Pension Fund’s Chair.
28th March 2019An update from Fossil Free Greater Manchester Fossil Free Greater Manchester has been campaigning since 2015 for the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to divest its holdings in the fossil fuel industry. We have made some progress since we started: The Pension Fund has recognised that climate change is a material risk and committed to eventual…
Read morePension protesters make their presence felt
21st October 2018In this update: 1) Press release following our action outside Greater Manchester Pension Fund AGM on Friday 21 October. 2) The experience of one Fund member at the AGM 3) Photos of our action. Fossil Free Greater Manchester press release 19th October 2018 Immediate Release Pension protestors claim success A group of noisy pensioners…
Read moreToday’s a good day for Greater Manchester Pension Fund to clean up its act.
19th October 2018Today, 19 October, the Greater Manchester Pension Fund will hold its Annual General Meeting. We’ll be outside from 12.30 til the meeting starts. We call on those attending to ask the Fund two things: WHEN will “100% of its assets to be compatible with the net zero emissions ambition in line with the Paris Agreement”?…
Read morePress release: Residents demonstrate for GM pension fund to stop funding climate change
17th October 2018Local residents will demonstrate outside the Greater Manchester Pension Fund’s (GMPF) annual general meeting in Droylsden on Friday 19th October at 12.30. They will call for the Fund to stop investing in fossil fuel companies and will present remnants from the recent moorland fires to delegates. The GMPF is the UK’s biggest local authority pension…
Read morePublic Meeting: Climate Change, Divestment and the Fight against Fracking
1st October 2018Tuesday 16 October , 7.00pm, at Friends Meeting House, Mount St, Manchester, M2 5NS. Organised by Fossil Free Greater Manchester, Frack Free Greater Manchester and Manchester Campaign against Climate Change. Do please come along and join the discussion about how best to join up our campaigns. Facebook event link. Speakers to include FFGM’s very own…
Read moreNew report reveals Greater Manchester councils investing £1 billion in fracking industry
5th September 2018A national report released on Monday revealed that Greater Manchester’s councils, led by Tameside Council, are investing £1 billion in fracking companies through their management of the local authority pension fund [1]. The news comes as the fracking industry is poised to drill for gas for the first time in seven years in the UK….
Read moreWhen will Greater Manchester Pension Fund de-carbonise its investment portfolio?
24th July 2018The Greater Manchester Pension Fund has yet to engage with the arguments for fossil fuel divestment and present clear plans for decarbonisation of its portfolio. Background In November last year, GMPF responded to our campaign for divesting their fossil fuel holdings with a 14 page letter. They acknowledged the risks from climate change and said…
Read moreOn the Mythical Peril of Divesting from Fossil Fuels – from the LSE
14th June 2018This article, by the LSE’s Jeremy Grantham, is well worth a read – not least by GMPF’s investment managers and advisors. It confirms the point we made in our briefing to councillors – divesting from fossil fuels is not a financial risk, and indeed could be a benefit to the fund. It refutes the Fund’s…
Read moreFossil Free Greater Manchester news release
20th May 2018Fossil Free Greater Manchester news release Immediate release On Monday 21st May, campaigners from Fossil Free Greater Manchester and pension fund members will be joining campaigners from Latin America at a vigil outside BP’s Annual General meeting in Manchester, calling on BP to stop fracking in Argentina and worldwide. [1] In 2017, the Greater Manchester…
Read moreGreater Manchester Pension Fund: the fracking connection
12th May 2018Residents in Greater Manchester overwhelming oppose fracking. The Manchester Evening News conducted a poll in 2014 and found that 73% of respondents opposed fracking. The figure is likely to be even higher now as the website is (as of 8 May, 2018) showing 88% against. Some of our councils (Manchester, Bury, Salford, Trafford, and Westhoughton…
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