SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have united in a call to end investment in fossil fuels.
On the eve of an international summit on climate finance, the two leaders join a long list of MPs calling for divestment from oil, coal and gas companies.
A cross-party group of more than 100 MPs and former MPs are demanding the £612 million Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund stop investing in fossil fuels. The pledge calls for the “phasing out of fossil fuel investments over an appropriate time-scale”.
The announcement of Blackford and Corbyn’s decision comes as fifty heads of state, including UK Prime Minister Theresa May, arrive in Paris for an international summit on climate change and climate finance, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.
It also marks the two year anniversary of the UK Government joining nearly 200 nations in signing the Paris Agreement. If the objective of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C is to be met, scientists say the majority of the world’s known fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground.
Despite this agreement, and cross-party support for the UK Climate Change Act, the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund continues to invest millions of pounds of MPs’ pensions in fossil fuel companies, including £5.6m in BP and £4.9m in Shell. The pension fund has to date been unwilling to make public a full list of its investments.
Explaining why he had added his name to the plea, Blackford said: “I want Scotland to continue to build a prosperous, low-carbon economy. We have already exceeded our world-leading climate change goals and our renewable energy targets too, but we must remain ambitious for the future and can always go further. It is important that our investment decisions support this ambition.’’
Corbyn said the UK had to show leadership in confronting “the existential threat posed by climate change”.
“One contribution we can make as MPs is to end the investment from our pension fund in fossil fuel industries, which is why I have signed the pledge,” he said. “To help protect our planet, we must wean our economy off its fossil fuel dependence and do more to move towards clean and renewable energy.”
The petition has been organised by the Divest Parliament campaign which is calling for an end to fossil fuel investments and action on climate change. First signed and championed by Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion and Green Party Co-Leader in 2016, other signatories include Labour MPs Rebecca Long-Bailey, Ian Murray and Harriet Harman, Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith and LibDem MP Norman Lamb.
Along with Blackford and Murray, seven Scottish MPs and former MPs have signed the pledge — Calum Kerr, former SNP MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, Mark Lazarowicz former Labour MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, Martyn Day, SNP MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk, Roger Mullin, former SNP MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, Ronnie Cowan, SNP MP for Inverclyde and Tommy Sheppard SNP, MP for Edinburgh East.
Patrick Killoran, of the Divest Parliament campaign, said: “Investing in companies such as BP and Shell, who continue to dig for more fossil fuels and lobby against climate policy to line executives’ pockets, is dangerous and wrong. I hope more MPs will join those committing to Divest Parliament today, and prioritise concrete action to build a clean, fair energy system for all.”
Ric Lander, from Friends of the Earth Scotland said rising seas and extreme weather was already destroying whole communities.
“We urgently need to cut our emissions — but this change won’t happen if our leaders continue to bet their pension on companies who will lose out if we go green,” he said.
“That’s why it’s so encouraging to see senior MPs calling for their pension fund to take climate change seriously by going fossil free.”
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