Response to GMPF’s consultation on its Investment Strategy Statement
14th November 2017We have now published our response to the GMPF Investment Strategy Statement. We welcome the acknowledgement that climate change is a material financial risk to the Fund’s investments but we argue that the Fund’s chosen approach for responding to this, engagement with the fossil fuel companies, is inadequate to the task. As engagement specialist NGO…
Read moreGreater Manchester councils investing £1.8 BILLION in climate-wrecking companies
9th November 2017National data released today has revealed that Greater Manchester’s local authority pension fund is investing £1.8 billion in the fossil fuel industry [1]. Campaigners say the controversial investments threaten the climate and also represent an unacceptable financial risk to both present and future pensioners. The Greater Manchester Pension Fund is now the dirtiest in…
Read more5,000 people call for GM Pension Fund to ditch fossil fuels
22nd September 2017Today we handed in our petition with more than 5,000 signatures calling on GMPF to divest from fossil fuels. At the end of the Fund’s Annual General Meeting, the Chair, Councillor Kieran Quinn, accepted the petition to which the Fund will respond. We now look forward to an informed discussion on climate risk and responsible…
Read moreTUC supports fossil fuel divestment of local pensions
14th September 2017The TUC has voted through a composite motion on climate change transition that includes this clause: vi. investigate the long-term risks for pension funds investing in fossil fuels, promote divestment, and alternative reinvestment in the sustainable economy. It follows on Unison’s motion in favour of campaigning on divestment and was carried unanimously at TUC conference….
Read moreWhich companies are worst? GMPF fossil fuel holdings
3rd September 2017Our new report reviews most of the Greater Manchester Pension Fund’s (GMPF) direct fossil fuel holdings and presents a way of prioritising companies for divestment, based on both their relative climate impacts and the risk of these investments becoming stranded (i.e. losing much of their value in the medium term). We identify nine companies, mostly…
Read moreCampaigners hail UNISON decision as GMPF faces more pressure to ditch fossil fuels
24th June 2017Fossil Free Greater Manchester (FFGM) today hailed UNISON’s decision that local authority pension funds should stop investing in fossil fuels. UNISON members took the decision at their annual conference in Brighton. “UNISON has changed its position in the face of evidence that fossil fuel investments are bad for its members’ pensions and bad for the…
Read moreGM Pension Fund digs a bigger hole for its members’ pension investments
7th May 2017Greater Manchester’s local authority pension fund has nearly trebled its investments in dirty, risky and increasingly redundant coal stocks. Its latest accounts show the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) increased its stakes in mining companies Anglo American and Glencore by 288% and 276% between March 2015 and March 2016. These investments expose Greater Manchester’s local…
Read moreGreater Manchester Mayoral candidates back our divestment call
2nd May 2017All four of the candidates who attended the environment hustings on Friday evening (28 April) said they would call on GMPF to divest from fossil fuels. The candidates were, in order of speaking on this question: Sean Anstee, Conservative Party Andy Burnham, Labour Party Jane Brophy, Liberal Democrats Will Patterson, Green Party The question asked…
Read moreWhy the Waltham Forest council pension fund divested – video
5th March 2017Here’s a video showing why Waltham Forest became the first UK council pension fund to commit to divest from fossil fuels. Video includes interviews with councillors:
Read moreManchester hosts screening of divestment documentary Do The Math
21st February 2017Last week, Fossil Free Greater Manchester held a screening of acclaimed environmental documentary Do the Math. For those who have not seen the documentary, we invite you to grab a cup of tea, or whatever it might be, and spend 44 minutes taking in what this film has to offer. You won’t regret it: “Do…
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