Pension Funds: Financial and Ethical Investments Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Work and Pensions
Thangam Debbonaire
Main Page: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)Department Debates - View all Thangam Debbonaire's debates with the Department for Work and Pensions
Pension Funds: Financial and Ethical Investments
Thangam Debbonaire Excerpts(5 years, 6 months ago)
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Thangam Debbonaire (Bristol West) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Howarth. I shall cut from my speech anything that anyone else has already said, and try to focus on things that I hope are new to the debate.
The parliamentary contributory pension fund, into which I believe we all pay, continues to hold fossil fuel investments, despite the wish of many parliamentarians and many of the people we represent. However, it is not easy to find out the full list of PCPF holdings. The 2018 annual report lists only the top 20 holdings, which account for only 21.6%, so I wrote last week to the trustees with a specific request, as a pension contributor, for a complete list so that I could prepare for the debate. I was disappointed by the response that I got today, informing me of what I already knew—that the fund publishes the top 20 holdings—and giving me a link to the website, which I was already aware of. The response mentions fiduciary responsibilities, and I accept that point, but it ignores the long-term threat of fossil fuel use to the economy.
The website also mentions environmental, social and corporate governance, but the documents available on it do not appear to me to provide any explanation of what efforts have been made to identify non-fossil fuel holdings that could replace the fossil fuel holdings with an equivalent financial benefit. It is disappointing that my specific request for information on the other 78.4% of the holdings was not met. I respectfully ask the PCPF to provide full, detailed disclosure after the debate. If I am mistaken about where it is on the website, I ask forgiveness, but I have searched and searched, and cannot find it.
People around the world are wising up to the risks of fossil fuels, and my constituents want me to do everything I can to get Parliament’s contributory pension fund to lead by example. The University of Bristol has already done so by divesting from its climate change-inducing fossil fuel funds. Investing in fossil fuel funds is, as we all know and as has been said, bad for the planet and for business. I do not want my pension to be invested in funds that jeopardise the future of the planet and the future of my nephews and nieces and their children. As a pension fund contributor I urge the trustees to change their investment strategy and to be fully transparent. In responding to the climate change emergency Parliament must get its own house in order.