BP share price: what’s the latest after UK lawmakers push for fossil fuel divestment?
British MPs have called upon trustees of the Parliamentary Pension Fund to respond to climate change by divesting shares in fossil fuel companies like oil and gas majors BP and Shell.
A group of 300 British MPs signed a joint-statement urging trustees of the Parliamentary Pension Fund to sell shares in BP and Royal Dutch Shell to pressure the fossil fuel industry to take meaningful action to combat climate change.
‘We believe [MPs] have a responsibility to act on climate change, and a unique opportunity to show leadership on climate action, responsible investment and the management of climate risk through addressing the practices of our own pension fund,’ the statement said.
Labour and Liberal Democrat leaders Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson are among the 300 MPs that have called on trustees to ‘disclose and review the fund’s investments in carbon-intensive industries’ and ‘commit to phasing out fossil fuel investments over an appropriate time-scale.’
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MPs call for divestment of BP and Shell shares
The Parliamentary Pension Fund owns £11.6 million worth of shares in BP and £10.9 million in Shell.
UK lawmakers argue that by its £700 million fund divesting shares in both companies it will help reduce climate change risk associated with the sector.
‘Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels is probably the single most urgent challenge we face,’ the Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Rowan Williams of Oystermouth, said in a statement.
‘Divestment will send a positive and hopeful message to the people of this country.’
In its annual results, Shell said that the divestment movement, spearheaded by the environmental non-profit 350.org, could restrict its access to new capital.
Proponents of the divestment movement believe that the practice will incentivise and, therefore, accelerate fossil fuel companies transition to cleaner, greener energy alternatives.
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