Greens call on Super Fund to divest from fossil fuels

The Green Party today called on the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (the Fund) to divest from fossil fuels, starting immediately with coal

The call was accompanied with a new report, Making money from a climate catastrophe: The case for divesting from fossil fuels, which pulls together a significant number of resources to make the ethical and financial case for divesting from companies directly involved in the mining and production of coal, oil, and gas. The Fund currently has $676 million in fossil fuel companies, comprising of approximately 2 percent of the Fund’s assets under management.

“The Guardians of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund are betting our money on a climate catastrophe,” said Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman.

“The Guardians are meant to be investing for the long term, but by investing over $676 million into fossil fuel companies, they’re hedging that the world will take no action on the climate — a world for our kids where it’s not worth living to retirement age.

“It is now a well-established fact that if all the world’s known reserves of coal, oil, and gas are burned, our climate is toast. At least three-quarters of these reserves will have to stay in the ground, wiping much of the current value of the fossil fuel sector.

“Getting out of fossil fuels is not only the right thing to do, it makes financial sense too.”

The world’s largest pension fund — Norway’s $1.2 trillion Government Pension Fund — began divesting from fossil fuels this week citing ‘elevated levels of risk to our investments in the long term’. It joins a rapidly growing list of funds, banks, cities, universities, and churches that have divested from fossil fuels for ethical and financial reasons since 2011.

“The New Zealand Superannuation Fund is widely regarded as one of the most ethical funds in the world, having previously divested from nuclear weapons manufacturers, big tobacco, illegal munitions manufacturers, and Japanese whalers,” said Dr Norman.

“Yet climate change is the ethical issue of our times. We can join together with a growing divestment movement around the world and put pressure where it matters — on polluting fossil fuel producers.

“Money released from divestment can be reinvested in the rapidly growing renewable energy and energy efficiency sectors, helping to hasten the transition of our economy to a low-carbon future.

“This century will be the century of sustainability. The countries and the businesses that lead that shift to sustainability will dominate.”

Read the report: Making money from a climate catastrophe: The case for divesting from fossil fuels.

 

 

Latest Climate Change Announcements

Story

Green voice crucial for climate action

The Green Party is today welcoming Labour’s climate manifesto, but is clear that much more will need to be done to tackle the climate crisis.
Read More

Story

Climate future of communities on the line this election

Green Party co leader James Shaw attended a South Dunedin Future street meeting today to discuss local responses to climate change.
Read More

Story

National’s climate pledge a joke

Today’s pledge from the National Party to deliver net zero carbon by 2050 is a bad-faith, disingenuous, and empty promise.
Read More

Story

National needs to come clean about climate cuts

The National Party needs to come clean about the impact of its plan to raid the climate budget and cancel $2 billion of investment in action to cut...
Read More

Story

New $750m fund part of Climate-Safe Communities plan to protect towns and cities from flooding

The Green Party has today announced a Climate-Safe Communities plan to both cut emissions and protect our communities from the impact of climate ch...
Read More

Story

James Shaw - Climate Safe Communities Speech

A family whose home was flooded to the ceiling of the ground floor. The kitchen, dining and living rooms filled as completely as a fish-tank.
Read More

Latest Superannuation Announcements

Policy

Prohibition of Investment of Public Funds in Fossil Fuels Bill

This Member’s Bill sets out the Green Party’s plan to move Aotearoa New Zealand towards a safe climate future, by divesting all public funds from f...
See More

Story

Super Fund tilts towards clean energy

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund’s commitment to invest NZ$540 million in clean energy is its clearest signal yet that they are taking climate c...
Read More

Story

Super Fund backs coal while the world rushes to dump it

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund has been increasing its investment in the world’s dirtiest coal companies over the last three years despite lar...
Read More