Agenda item

Currently council meetings are taking place in-person (not virtually) with social distancing operating in the venues.  However, members of the public who wish to speak at this meeting can attend the meeting ‘virtually’ through an online connection.  Places at the meeting are very limited due to the requirements of social distancing.  While you can ask to attend the meeting in person, you are strongly encouraged to attend ‘virtually’ to minimise the risk of Covid-19 infection.

Please also note that in line with current government guidance all attendees are strongly encouraged to take a lateral flow test in advance of the meeting.

Normally requests to speak at this public meeting are required by 9 am on the day preceding the published date of the meeting. However, during the current situation and to facilitate these new arrangements we are asking that requests to speak are submitted by no later than 9am four working days before the meeting i.e. 9 am on Friday 4 June 2021.  Requests to speak should be sent to khalid.ahmed@oxfordshire.gov.uk. You will be contacted by the officer regarding the arrangements for speaking.

If you ask to attend in person, the officer will also advise you regarding Covid-19 safety at the meeting.  If you are speaking ‘virtually’, you may submit a written statement of your presentation to ensure that if the technology fails, then your views can still be taken into account. A written copy of your statement can be provided no later than 9 am 2 working days before the meeting. Written submissions should be no longer than 1 A4 sheet.

The Committee received a public address from Mr Peter Wallis from Fossil Free Oxfordshire.

Thank you for allowing me to address the Pension Fund Committee as a County Council employee, LGPS scheme member and member of Fossil Free Oxfordshire. I extend a welcome to new Committee members and welcome back the old hands. It is a very responsible job, and your dedication is hugely appreciated by scheme members.

We at Fossil Free Oxfordshire are delighted that tackling the climate emergency is top of the Oxfordshire Fair Deal Alliance’s shared goals. The County Council acknowledged the climate emergency in 2019 and made a commitment to becoming a carbon neutral council by 2030, showing strong leadership in addressing climate change.

The Pension Fund Committee has taken some important steps to address climate change. Climate risk is classed in its risk register as amber and is included in the Investment Strategy Statement. A climate change policy has been agreed, with the aim of decarbonising the whole fund by 2050.

However, the LGPS continues to invest in fossil fuels and has not set targets for reducing those high-emission, high-risk, low-return investments. As such, the pension fund remains a drag on the Council’s climate agenda.

The pace of change in climate change and the global response is dizzying. We would like to draw your attention to three significant developments literally in the last three weeks, and to urge you to be more ambitious in your targets.

On May 18, the International Energy Agency, the world’s leading energy organisation, stated that exploration and development of new oil and gas fields - the primary activity of fossil fuel companies - must stop this year if the world is to stay within safe limits of global heating and meet the goal of net zero emissions by 2050. The fossil fuel sector has consistently under-performed the rest of the equity markets over the last 10-15 years, and the IEA report will have a further major impact for energy markets.

On May 26, a court in the Netherlands ruled in a landmark case that Shell is responsible for its CO2 emissions and those of its suppliers and must cut its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels. Arguments have been made against divesting the fund from fossil fuel companies, favouring the idea of ‘engagement’. However, we don’t need fossil fuel companies to just invest a bit more, or even a lot more, in renewable alternatives. We need them to have a plan to shut down their fossil fuel-based business activities entirely in the course of the next twenty years. Shareholder engagement as a way of achieving that is like asking a lion very politely if he would consider the advantages of vegetarianism. Despite decades of ‘engagement’, investment in renewables by Shell is currently only around 10% relative to the company’s total capital expenditure in fossil fuels.

On 27 May the World Meteorological Organisation said by 2025 - that’s in four years - there's a 40% chance of at least one year being 1.5C hotter than the pre-industrial level, up on the 20% chance in their previous estimate. 1.5C is the safer of two temperature limits set by the Paris Agreement on climate change.

That’s 3 game changing announcements in just 10 days of last month.

David Attenborough recently stated that; ‘investing pension savings into fossil fuels is “crazy” as it supports industries that are threatening the future that pensions are saving for.’ Climate change will impact on future generations as extreme weather events damage property and livelihoods and put pressure on farming and food supply locally. Moreover, burning fossil fuels disproportionately affects the poorest people nationally and globally, and it seems deeply unethical as one of the richest countries to profit from investments that are causing other people misery.

As members of the Pension Fund Committee, you’re in a powerful position, and can have a positive impact on the world. The pension fund has a lot of money to manage. We call on you to invest in a world worth living in.

Fossil Free Oxfordshire applauds the fund setting a target for decarbonising the fund. However, many targets nationally and globally are being brought forward in light of grim news of the impact of climate change and fears of passing the tipping point for runaway warming.

The County Council has a 2030 target, why not the Pension Fund?

We also call on you to ask Brunel to develop funds that are fossil fuel-free.

Fossil Free Oxfordshire appreciates being able to participate in the Climate working group and would like to continue our involvement as a critical friend. We hope to offer constructive challenge, pointing to issues of climate risk and climate justice. We encourage you to be brave leaders in addressing this critical issue.