Caroline Lucas launches ‘Fossil Free Politics’ campaign

7 December 2016

Caroline Lucas, the co-leader of the Green Party, has launched a campaign to ‘kick fossil fuels out of politics’. Lucas’ campaign aims to sever ties between the fossil fuel industry and MPs, starting with a demand to the Parliamentary Pension fund to divest from fossil fuels. 

Lucas is also demanding:

As part of her campaign Caroline Lucas has started a petition to the Government [1], urging Ministers to adopt a fossil fuel free politics. Her focus on the Parliamentary Pension Fund comes after it was revealed at the end of November that the scheme’s trustees thought it was no longer “possible for the trustees to engage in further prolonged discussion” with the MPs on the scheme’s investment approach [2].

Caroline Lucas MP said:

“As the government slips further away from meeting its climate targets and continues to fudge the maths of climate-busting runways; as the voices of the climate scepticism win positions of political power, casting doubt on indisputable science; and as the world moves ever closer to climate chaos, the need for us to speak with one voice on ending the power of fossil fuel companies has never been more important.

“That’s why today I am launching this campaign – because we cannot wait any longer for a fossil fuel free politics. I urge people to sign the petition, and call on MPs to join me in demanding that our pension fund stops investing in dirty energy. The attitude of the pension fund trustees is extremely short-sighted. Not only have they refused to properly engage with their members over simple transparency questions, but they are now dismissing our calls for action to protect investments from the financial risks associated with climate change.

“Parliamentarians should be leading the way on tackling climate change, yet our pension fund is utterly untransparent.”

Notes:

[1] https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/lets-kick-fossil-fuels-out-of-politics 

[2] https://www.ft.com/content/bbaa2e52-b32d-11e6-a37c-f4a01f1b0fa1 

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