UNISON PENSION SCHEME MEMBERS MOBILISED OVER OIL SANDS RESOLUTIONS
UNISON is supporting a nation-wide coalition of organisations to begin an unprecedented mobilisation of pension fund members and the public to petition their pension funds in support of oil sands resolutions due to be voted on at the BP and Shell AGMs this Spring.The resolution BP plc and Royal Dutch Shell plc have confirmed that the resolutions are valid, and will be discussed at their AGMs on 15 April 2010 (TBC) and18th May 2010 respectively
Today (22 February) UNISON with support from FairPensions launches an innovative new internet tool which, for the first time, enables individuals to contact their pension providers requesting that they back the resolutions.
Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON said "UNISON's staff pension co-filed these resolutions and now we're getting the word out to our 1.3 million members in Britain's public services, encouraging them to express support to their pension funds and savings institutions. Our members' pension funds have an estimated investment value of £250bn so at UNISON we understand the need for a low carbon economy. We're not convinced that exploitation of tar sands is a responsible choice for the future. These resolutions demand the clear answers from oil companies which our members need and deserve."
Oil sands (also known as tar sands) are amongst the world's most controversial industrial projects due to the extremely high levels of carbon emissions (conversion into fuel produces on average 3 times the greenhouse gas emissions of conventional oil), huge quantities of toxic waste produced, local air and water pollution, deforestation, and indigenous community impacts.
The resolutions, which were co-filed by a diverse group of fund managers, pension funds, including the UNISON staff fund, foundations and faith groups in the largest coalition of its kind seen in the UK, call upon BP and Shell to report on the investment risks associated with tar sands projects and their plans to address them, citing greenhouse gas emissions, environmental damage and impacts upon indigenous communities.
This follows investor concerns that these companies are failing to properly account for future legislation over carbon emissions, high operational costs, environmental clean up costs and the risk of litigation as a result of indigenous community impacts. Resolution co-filers feel this is not a prudent approach and the companies are risking both financial and reputational damage in the long term by developing what some investors view to be toxic assets.
We want you to support the campaign by asking your fund to vote in favour of the resolutions.
You can do this by going to the following address finding your pension fund and sending the letter. http://fairpensions.org.uk/unison/tarsands
You can find out which of your local authority funds have investments in BP and Shell
The documents attached allow you to see what each fund held in shares, by value in 2008. This does not show the complete picture as most fund swill have invested in UK stock Market pooled funds, these will not register as each funds holdings, but as the holdings of fund managers such as Standard Life.
Local Government Pension Funds holdings in British Petroleum, (BP) March 2008 65 Funds sent data to UNISON in March 2008, not all funds sent their share holdings - so this does not represent all of the combined holdings of the 101 LGPF funds in the UK.
- Total March 2008 shareholdings by market value of 65 funds: £1.314bn
- BP total market capitalisation:£146bn
- Total LGPF holding as % of total market capitalisation: 0.89%
- This combined holding of 0.89% would make the LGPFs the 17th largest shareholder in BP
69 Funds sent data to UNISON in March 2008, not all funds sent their share holdings - so this does not represent all of the combined holdings of the 101 LGPF funds in the UK.
Local Government Pension Funds holdings in Royal Dutch Shell
Local Government Pension Funds holdings in British Petroleum
Download leaflets and more info more about the campaign below
