On the go: Several of Britain’s top pension funds have warned about the impact of fossil fuel divestment plans, as they would have lost hundreds of millions of pounds had they sold out of oil and gas stocks.
According to Reuters, the Greater Manchester Pension Fund and West Yorkshire Pension Fund, which together manage £39.6bn in assets, estimate in their annual reports they would have lost more than £600m combined had they divested from fossil fuels.
“We have to demonstrate that our investment decisions do not threaten... financial performance,” Greater Manchester stated in its latest annual report.
The scheme added that it gained more than £400m in returns over a three-year period by remaining invested in energy stocks, such as BP and Centrica.
West Yorkshire had a similar experience, and stated it would have lost £200m if it had sold its holdings in oil and gas companies in the three years to September 2018 and reinvested in other UK stocks.
Reuters contacted 47 of Britain’s largest pension funds, with 33 saying they were not divesting from fossil fuels. Some highlighted the potential impact on returns and their preference to engage with oil and gas companies as reasons.
