Agenda item

Tony Jones addressed the Committee, a copy of his statement is attached as an online appendix to these minutes, a summary is set out below.

I wish to express my concern and disappointment that, following the recent COP 26 meeting in Glasgow, the pension partnership update report does not include specific recommendations for action by the committee that reflect the seriousness of the situation we face following COP 26.

According to the Climate Change Committee (CCC) in its recent report, (“COP 26, Key Outcomes and Next Steps for the UK, 2/12/21”), the Glasgow Climate Pact rightly puts the focus on the 2020s as the critical decade for accelerating climate action. The CCC goes on to say that, in explicitly recognising the severity of climate impacts above 1.5C of warming, the Pact provides the strongest acknowledgement yet of the importance of meeting the 1.5C target.

As individuals we all have a part to play in the action needed for the rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Financial institutions, such as the Avon Pension Fund, can bring enormous leverage to bear and, following COP 26, have to step up to ensure that they are leading the way out of investment in fossil fuels, not by 2050 but by the end of this critical decade. 

COP 26 signalled the start of this process, eg by launching the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance (BOGA) which is a coalition of countries committing to end new licensing rounds for oil and gas production, with an associate level for countries aiming to phase out oil and gas production, as well as the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, a global grouping of 450 financial institutions committed to directing investment away from fossil fuel use.

Why, in this first update report following COP 26, has none of this information, and the need for urgent action been placed before our elected representatives?

The Chairman thanked him for his statement and said that a written response on behalf of the Committee would be issued in due course.

Jackie Walkden addressed the Committee, a copy of her statement is attached as an online appendix to these minutes, a summary is set out below.

Brunel's documentation frequently refers to the Paris Agreement having the goal of limiting global temperature increase to well below 2 degrees Celsius. While this is a goal, the documentation omits the end of the sentence it is part of: ie 'while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees'. 'Limit to' should, in reality, mean 'aim for below'. This is important. Scientists believe we are already at over one degree of heating. As global emissions have not been falling in line with the Paris target, we are actually heading for higher than 2 degrees and if all the fossil fuel reserves we have today are used we will be looking at over 8 degrees.

Currently, at one degree C, UN scientists say we are experiencing climate events that they didn't expect at this stage of warming; the models are wrong. In fact, we are already dangerously close to hitting irriversible, catastrophic climage change. In light of this Brunel and its associate funds appear rather complacent in their current approach.

This complacency is also shown in initiatives used to demonstrate care for the environment. For example the ambiguously named mixed-fuel facility in Slough. This is an incinerator and as such is not a solution to the problem. It is green washing it.

The pension funds need genuinely green solutions - not waste to heat, or biomas burning. They also need to heed the warning of the International Energy Agency's report Net Zero by 2050 – Analysis - IEA, which says there should be no new fossil fuel projects after 2021. Accepting weak long-term goals from oil companies (Shell 65% by 2050) is not enough. To help ensure new projects do not go ahead, local government funds need to be divested from fossil fuels without delay.

So what will the fund now do to up its commitment and when will we know it's really protecting the climate from breakdown?

The Chairman thanked her for her statement and said that a written response on behalf of the Committee would be issued in due course. He said that he believed that Avon was at the forefront of the LGPS on this issue.