The Scottish Greens’ Lothian MSP, Alison Johnstone, has called for Lothian Pension Fund to end its multi-million pound investment in fossil fuels and instead make more socially responsible investments.
New research from Friends of the Earth Scotland shows that council pension funds in Scotland invest £1.2bn in fossil fuel giants, with devastating consequences for communities, climate and their own finances.
Lothian Pension Fund, which is operated by City of Edinburgh Council for its own area and on behalf of East Lothian, West Lothian and Midlothian, have agreed not to make new investments in fossil fuel companies they do not already invest in, but this does not end existing investments in climate-wrecking companies, or prevent them from increasing.
Alison Johnstone said: “Public pension funds in Scotland continue to invest millions to bankroll fossil fuel companies every year. Lothian Pension Fund invests £165m in major polluters, at a time when leadership is needed in tackling the climate crisis.
“The public don’t want to see these pension funds exacerbating the problem, particularly when this cash could be invested into socially responsible endeavours like green energy production, house building and public transport improvements.
“This year the world will come to Scotland when Glasgow hosts the UN climate change summit. It’s time for Scotland to take a lead in tackling the climate crisis, and one of the most straightforward ways we can begin to do that is by ending these public investments in big oil and gas.
“Lothian Pension Fund must show that it is serious about tackling the climate emergency by bringing its influence to bear and ending these obscene oil and gas investments.”