Image: Manchester’s Green councillors with supporters outside Manchester Town Hall before today’s council meeting.
Greens have successfully convinced Manchester City Council to urge the Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) to divest over £1.7 billion from fossil fuels and arms companies.
At today’s Manchester City Council meeting, a motion proposed by Greens calling for divestment was unanimously passed with Labour and Liberal Democrat support.
The motion means the council will now call on the fund to uphold its previous commitment to divest from fossil fuels and match Manchester’s goal of reaching net zero by 2038 – 12 years ahead of the fund’s current target.
The council will also ask for a new commitment from GMPF to divest the millions it invests in companies involved in arms production.
Cllr Astrid Johnson, deputy leader of the Green Party on Manchester City Council and proposer of the motion, said: “The GMPF has £1.5bn invested in fossil fuel companies, and over £241 million in companies that indirectly profit from arms sales.
“There are inextricable links between war, climate destruction and human suffering. We simply cannot stay invested in climate-damaging infrastructure such as airport expansions, fossil fuel companies’ greenwashing schemes, and arms sales directly connected to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and other conflicts across the world.
“Now is the right time for our council to ask that the GMPF aligns with Manchester’s net-zero carbon emissions target of 2038. And it is time to end our investment in the arms trade.
“The world is a dark place at the moment. But today it just got a bit lighter.”
Approximately 6% of the GMPF fund (equating to £1.5 billion) is invested in the fossil fuel industry. Companies the GMPF is invested in include Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, Glencore, Legal and General, and others.
The GMPF also invests over £241 million in companies such as BAE Systems, Boeing and Caterpillar, which indirectly profit from arms sales to states involved in conflicts in the likes of Palestine, Lebanon, the Congo, Sudan, Ukraine and Yemen.
The Greens successfully argued that these investments not only pose ethical risks, but they also risk losing financial viability as countries make greater efforts to reduce their carbon emissions.
Cllr Anastasia Wiest, leader of the Green Party on Manchester City Council, and seconder of the motion, said: “Continuing to invest in fossil fuels will leave us with stranded assets when the rest of the world is moving on.
“Not removing our finances from these industries will be a failure in our duty to protect people’s pensions.”
The Green Party’s call comes not long after the Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced her plans to merge local government pension schemes like the GMPF into so-called ‘mega-funds’.
This month, Reeves confirmed the government’s plans to combine assets in England and Wales’ 86 different local government pension schemes into eight funds by 2030.
The details will be outlined in a pensions bill next year which the government has said will lead to ‘the biggest pension reforms in decades’.
Cllr Johnson added: “If we carry out these divestments now, then we can ensure that Greater Manchester’s contribution to Labour’s planned ‘mega-funds’ is clean.
“The Chancellor must swiftly detail her plans for these ‘mega-funds’, ensuring they drive the urgent transition from fossil fuels and arms production while offering members robust financial, environmental, and ethical protections.”
-ENDS-
Notes to editors:
The Green Party is an opposition party on Manchester City Council with three councillors. The leader of the Green group on the council is Cllr Anastasia Wiest. The deputy leader is Cllr Astrid Johnson.
The three Green councillors on the council are Cllr Anastasia Wiest, Cllr Astrid Johnson, and Cllr Rob Nunney. All three represent the ward of Woodhouse Park.
Manchester City Council is formed of 87 Labour members, three Greens, four Liberal Democrats, one Worker’s Party member, and one independent.
Cllrs Johnson and Wiest can be available for interview upon request.
For further information, please contact Chris Ogden at press@manchester.greenparty.org.uk.