Wednesday 21 October 2015

Reading Council moves forward with fossil fuel divestment campaign

Last Night at full Council Green councillors asked the council to lobby Berkshire Pension Fund to sell its fossil fuel investments, £66.5 million, and invest in an ethical, sustainable future. Councillors agreed, across all parties, that we should look at this in more detail and broaden it to other ethical considerations.

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Still time to sign the Reading Divest from Fossil Fuels petition, we are approaching 200 signatures: https://campaigns.gofossilfree.org/petitions/reading-divest-from-fossil-fuels

Globally 200,000 individuals and 400 institutions have already committed to pulling their investments out of fossil fuel companies totalling a whopping $2.6 trillion.

Berkshire Pension Fund’s investments in fossil fuels are contributing to climate change rather than helping tackle it.

We only have one world and one chance. I’m pleased that councillors have followed the Green Party’s lead, and chose to be courageous ahead of the Paris climate change conference. There is still much work to do, but Reading has taken the first step towards becoming part of the fossil fuel divestment movement.

The report on fossil fuel divestment and other ethical matters relating to the Berkshire Pension Fund will come back to the Policy Committee on November 30, 2015.

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