UK. Public sector pension had double fracking investments
Local authority pension funds continue to invest in dirty oil and gas.
The largest public sector pension fund in the UK has more than double the investment in the fracking industry than previously known with more than £1billion at risk, The Ecologist can reveal.
Tameside/Greater Manchester (GMPF) had by 31 March 2018 put in an extra £609m worth of holdings in companies that back fracking – which include financial, chemical, security and waste concerns. This is over and above the £700m recently disclosed.
This further investment includes £92m directed towards Centrica, a partner of Cuadrilla, the company currently attempting to frack near neighbouring Blackpool.
Managing risk
Centrica holds a 25 percent stake in the Bowland exploration licence under which Cuadrilla is operating and stands to gain from any future returns.
Kate Blagojevic, head of energy at Greenpeace UK, said: “Pension fund investment is supposed to be about managing long term risk.
“This fund has invested in a loss-making industry which looks unlikely to ever make it into the black, and can only operate by increasing the biggest long term risk we face, runaway climate change.”
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