In November 2021 Luton Council passed a motion requesting that the Bedfordshire Pension Fund divest from fossil fuels. It received cross party support, putting pressure on other councils in Bedfordshire to vote likewise and bring pension investments in line with climate action plans.
“The borough council has stepped up and become the first local authority in Bedfordshire to support divestment from fossil fuels” said Luton based divestment campaigner Isaac Beevor. “Now we’re looking for that leadership to be replicated across the county.”
As hoped, Bedford Council followed suit in January. Bedfordshire Pension Fund manages the pension funds for Luton, Bedford and Central Beds. With two of the three councils electing to divest, the fund will now wind down investments in oil, coal and gas by 2023.
Bedfordshire will join a growing number of councils that have chosen to divest, as part of a wider movement to withdraw financial support of the fossil fuel industry that is driving climate change. For more information, see Divest UK.
Divestment is the opposite of investment. In recent years a divestment movement has formed to encourage funds and banks to pull their money out of fossil fuels, and stop profiting from the destruction of the climate. Universities were among the first to move, and in 2015 Bedfordshire University also took this step, the second university in Britain to divest from fossil fuels.
Zero Carbon Luton 