New Pensions Bill, new All-Party Group to lobby, new petition:

UK-wide pressure helps our Divest Tyne & Wear campaign

The changes include:

• Government's new Pensions Bill (details here as soon as launched) - these changes include increased influence for the megafund that invests assets for Tyne & Wear Pension Fund. Border to Coast also invests on behalf of Teesside and County Durham pension funds. If you are linked to those areas and want to help reduce their fossil fuels investment, please get in touch divest.tw@assembly.org.uk There's more information here
  
• New national campaign and petition for greener pensions - UK Divest, the Finance Innovation lab and other groups are supported by public figures such as Jason Isaacs (White Lotus) and Richard Curtis (Director, Love Actually) who said: “Greener, fairer pensions are our superpower to protect the future for all generations. We need our leaders to put British savers and climate safety at the heart of the pension reforms. There’s no point inheriting a pension in a world on fire.” Previous efforts by celebrities to raise the profile of greener pensions include the actors’ trade union pension announcing last year that its £130m fund would exclude fossil fuel investments. Please sign and spread the petition https://act.350.org/sign/fairer-greener-pensions-all-uk

• Launch of new All-Party Parliamentary Group to lobby for sustainable finance (19 May 2025) - this includes pushing for changes to pension policies. More info here https://www.appgonsustainablefinance.co.uk/about
  
• Inquiry by House of Commons Work & Pension Committee - its 14th May hearing heard that pension funds' investment decisions must take account of the "very significant financial and economic losses caused by climate change and nature destruction". Full video recording here https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/2d0a4424-512a-49c1-a01b-5f9badafc8ca
• In addition, Pensions Minister Torsten Bell has confirmed that climate change should be taken into account when local council schemes, including Tyne & Wear Pension Fund, take decisions on whether to invest in fossil fuel companies. In response to a Written Question by Newcastle East MP Mary Glindon, he wrote: “The Financial Markets Law Committee’s (FMLC) report in 2024 … argued that there is a strong case for trustees to consider climate change and other environmental factors as ‘financial factors’ in investment decision-making. The government welcomes the opinion the FMLC reached.” (Full Written Answer to Written Question to Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall - link coming)

And there has been an increase in protests by shareholders in fossil fuel organisations: the BP AGM saw the biggest rebellion yet by investors worried about its backsliding over renewables and failure to support the Paris Agreement targets. This included the Border to Coast Pensions Partnership (BCPP), used by Tyne & Wear Pension Fund. Example of coverage https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/17/bp-braces-for-investor-rebellion-at-first-agm-since-climate-strategy-u-turn

This was the response of Divest Tyne & Wear campaigners to these changes. “This new Pensions Bill can be a golden opportunity to channel funds away from risky fossil fuels abroad into local green jobs and infrastructure improvements. We’re delighted that more MPs, pension experts and household names are stepping up to demand change."

“Surveys show 80% of people want stronger action now to tackle climate breakdown and protect their futures. Our council tax ending up in overseas investment in fracking, tar sands and controversial extraction expansion does the opposite – it harms the futures of all of us, especially members of pension funds.”

***Six local authorities (Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, Northumberland and North and South Tyneside) use council tax income to contribute more than £200m a year to Tyne & Wear Pension Fund. It is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme, which invests £16bn a year in fossil fuels and is the fifth largest public pension scheme in the world.***