There’s a lot of attention being focused on Climate change at the moment, for many reasons, including the World’s governments coming together in Glasgow for the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26).
It seemed to be a good time to ask Isle of Wight council about their investments in fossil fuel companies.
News OnTheWight wrote to the council on Monday asking them:
Given IWC have declared a climate emergency in July 2019 and, as of Sept 2021, Isle of Wight council adopted ‘Mission Zero’, its climate and environmental strategy, while voting to support the Government’s Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill, does IWC have a plan to divest IWC pension funds from fossil fuel companies and funds? If so, please send over details.
£19m invested in fossil fuels
We also pointed out the research published by Friends of the Earth (FoE) and Platform showing that IWC had £19m (£18,798,132) invested in fossil fuel companies as at February 2021.
As a follow up, we asked,
Has this figure changed since then? If so, how has it changed?
In short, the council still hasn’t provided answers, the details of our progress with it are below.
Before we get there, let’s look at how Isle of Wight council ranks in the size of their investments in Coal and Oil & Gas, then we’ll move on to someone we did get answers from.
How does IWC rank?
Lower down we’ve got a breakdown of the details as at Feb ‘21 that FoE and Platform reported. They found IWC’s fossil fuel investment to be 3% of their total pension pot.
So looking at the data, how do Isle of Wight council’s investments of £4,800,442.10 in Coal and £13,997,690.39 in Oil & Gas compare against 98 councils across the country?
Looking at Oil & Gas, the council was ranked 39th highest.
When their investments in Coal and Oil & Gas are combined, IWC ranks lower, coming 43rd of the 98.
Looking at their Coal investment alone, they’re 86th.
Getting a response
News OnTheWight also wrote to Cllr Michael Lilley, who was instrumental in introducing the motion for the council to declare a Climate Emergency in July 2019.
He was far more forthcoming, responding quickly, saying,
“Definitely, it is my understanding that IW Council’s climate emergency strategy will/does include IWC looking at its investments in fossil fuels which could be directly or through pension funds.
“In the past, when I was in opposition, I did raise the question of fossil fuels investment through Audit and Scrutiny Committees. I will continue to do this.
“From a pragmatic perspective, returns on investment in renewable energy has risen greatly and it could be a very sound investment to consider investing this way.
“It takes time to change policy and IWC Alliance Administration has only been in for six months, but I know that many of us are drilling down and moving away from fossil fuel investment would be firmly on many of our minds although I can only speak in an individual capacity.”
The data
You can look up the details yourself, but to help, we’ve reproduced the findings of Friends of the Earth (FoE) and Platform below. You can also read the whole report (PDF).
Isle of Wight council’s top ten fossil fuel holdings
| Fossil Fuel Company | Fossil fuel | Amount (GBP) |
|---|---|---|
| Royal Dutch Shell | Coal, Oil & Gas | £ 4,604,030.21 |
| BP | Coal, Oil & Gas | £ 3,820,686.48 |
| BHP | Coal, Oil & Gas | £ 1,887,869.90 |
| Anglo American | Coal, Oil & Gas | £ 1,580,759.99 |
| ExxonMobil | Coal, Oil & Gas | £ 896,989.95 |
| Mitsubishi | Coal, Oil & Gas | £ 801,634.84 |
| Chevron | Coal, Oil & Gas | £ 740,016.71 |
| Mitsui | Coal, Oil & Gas | £ 739,816.98 |
| ConocoPhillips | Coal, Oil & Gas | £ 403,645.48 |
| Sumitomo | Coal, Oil & Gas | £ 298,020.68 |
How does Isle of Wight invest in its top ten fossil fuel holdings?
| Fossil Fuel | Source | Target | Amount (GBP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coal | Direct | Anglo American | £ 1,401,362.00 |
| Coal | Direct | BHP | £ 581,889.50 |
| Coal | LF ADGF | BHP | £ 25,674.22 |
| Coal | LF ADGF | Mitsubishi | £ 61,618.12 |
| Coal | LF ADGF | Mitsui | £ 123,236.24 |
| Coal | LF ADGF | Sumitomo | £ 51,348.43 |
| Coal | LF AGEF | Anglo American | £ 179,397.99 |
| Coal | LF AGEF | Arcelormittal | £ 67,274.25 |
| Coal | LF AGEF | BHP | £ 336,371.23 |
| Coal | LF AGEF | CLP Holdings | £ 67,274.25 |
| Coal | LF AGEF | Glencore | £ 156,973.24 |
| Coal | LF AGEF | Itochu | £ 179,397.99 |
| Coal | LF AGEF | Mitsubishi | £ 740,016.72 |
| Coal | LF AGEF | Mitsui | £ 246,672.25 |
| Coal | LF AGEF | RWE | £ 112,123.74 |
| Coal | LF AGEF | Sumitomo | £ 246,672.25 |
| Oil & Gas | Direct | BHP | £ 581,889.50 |
| Oil & Gas | Direct | BP | £ 3,453,602.00 |
| Oil & Gas | Direct | Royal Dutch Shell | £ 3,998,562.00 |
| Oil & Gas | LF ADGF | BHP | £ 25,674.22 |
| Oil & Gas | LF ADGF | EOG Resources | £ 61,618.12 |
| Oil & Gas | LF ADGF | Mitsui | £ 123,236.24 |
| Oil & Gas | LF AGEF | BHP | £ 336,371.23 |
| Oil & Gas | LF AGEF | BP | £ 313,946.48 |
| Oil & Gas | LF AGEF | Chevron | £ 740,016.71 |
| Oil & Gas | LF AGEF | Conocophillips | £ 403,645.48 |
| Oil & Gas | LF AGEF | EOG Resources | £ 134,548.49 |
| Oil & Gas | LF AGEF | Engie | £ 112,123.74 |
| Oil & Gas | LF AGEF | Exxonmobil | £ 896,989.95 |
| Oil & Gas | LF AGEF | Mitsui | £ 246,672.25 |
| Oil & Gas | LF AGEF | Occidental | £ 89,699.00 |
| Oil & Gas | LF AGEF | Royal Dutch Shell | £ 605,468.21 |
| Oil & Gas | Schroder | BP | £ 53,138.00 |
| Oil & Gas | Schroder | Engie | £ 92,991.50 |
| Oil & Gas | Schroder | Occidental | £ 79,707.00 |
Key
LF ADGF = LF Access Diversified Growth Fund
LF AGEF = LF Access Global Equity Fund
Schroder = Schroder Sterling Broad Market Bond Fund
Direct = Direct fossil fuel investments
The struggle with the council
Now, to return back to the various exchanges with the council.
On Monday we were told an IWC officer, who handles the council’s pensions needed to, “drill down into investments as at 30 September, and then seek confirmation from the investment managers”.
Not hearing anything the next day, we prompted them again, first thing on Wednesday morning.
At the end of play yesterday they wrote again apologising saying that our request would require in-depth analysis which, for a small fund with limited resources, will take some time to complete. They hoped to be able to respond by the end of next week or sooner if possible.
Our response:
“It’s unclear why all of this analysis is needed to answer our initial question, “Does IWC have a plan to divest IWC pension funds from fossil fuel companies and funds?”
Late this afternoon the council advised,
“A response is being prepared and is hoped to be with you in the morning.”
We continue to eagerly await their response.
Image: howardlake under CC BY 2.0
