£24m invested in tobacco

Looks like the tobacco investment portfolio continues to rise at KCC which is key partner in the Kent Alliance on Smoking and Health. The KM reports that it now stands at £24m, up from £19m three years ago.

So much for promoting a health society and signing up to UNs Principles of Responsible Investment.

Iceland deals another blow to Kent County Council

Having spent a few days updating the Kent Green Party website, I found myself adding a page on ethical investments, an issue that we have worked hard to get Kent County Council to adopt. We had some success last year after we embarrased them in the media with a number of well chosen pieces about the type of companies the council had its money in, arms, tobacco etc.

The big story with Kent County Council and money is of course the fiasco of losing £47m to the Icelandic banking collapse. News out yesterday shows that Icelanders are fighting hard to not repay their debts with 25% of voters signing a petition to their parliament - I'm sure we would all do the same in their shoes. This is another blow for KCC and for Kent in general. Either taxpayers will have to stump up the misssing millions or KCC will have to cut services.

Kent County Council have acted like a greed hungry corporation, investing money for the greatest profit above all else. As the banking house of cards tumbled, it got its fingers burnt, but the real scandal should be that it continues to use public money to fund death, oppression and climate change.

The council is in the ideal position to put its money into projects that would benefit people and the environment. Acting in the public interest, rather than as a greedy corporation is long overdue but unlikely. Remember, 74 of the 84 Kent County Councillors are Conservative.

Green Providers

This is from Dr Gary Robershaw of The Green Providers Directory. I've had a look through the directory and it looks pretty good. It is so hard to find ethical stuff locally - which is a crying shame. I don't like shopping nationally via mail order, but sometimes there is little choice.

Gary sent this piece through which I thought I'd post for people:

The debate surrounding the extent to which the burning of fossil fuels leads to climate change misses a more fundamental point. That is, fossil fuels are an inherently finite resource. This resource is dwindling at an accelerating rate as economies such as those of China and India expand rapidly. Fossil fuels will run out. Maybe not in the next 10, 20 or 30 years but they will run out. As the scarcity of fossil fuels grows there will be increasing conflict between nations to secure their supplies in an effort to maintain their carbon-dependent economies. At the same time, there is an inexorably growing human population, destruction of rainforests, depletion of natural resources and plummeting biodiversity. Clearly, this situation cannot be sustained in the longer-term.

Yet our capitalist system is based on the principle of economic growth - growth that is heavily dependent on fossil fuels and unsustainable practices. Just look at recent events; governments are terrified by anything that threatens economic growth – pouring billions of public money into failing financial systems. In addition, many economists see growth not only as desirable but as essential. They claim it lifts the poor out of poverty, feeding the world’s growing population, supporting the costs of rising public spending and stimulating investment and technological development.

The dilemma is how can we square Earth’s finite resources with the fact that as the economy grows, the amount of natural resources needed to sustain that activity must grow too. I am clear in my conviction that economic growth in its current form is unsustainable. We need a new paradigm that limits (or reduces) the global population, a meaningful shift away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, increasing energy efficiency and the adoption of more sustainable lifestyles. This will require courageous, co-ordinated and global government policies that ensure we don’t use up resources faster than the world can replace them.

Many will dismiss this as a utopian ideology. But isn’t it a utopian ideology to carry on blithely down a path that will ultimately lead to catastrophe? Yes, it will require a new world-view and radical changes but I think we have several grounds for optimism. Firstly, sustainable economies are more stable – whilst growth may be lower than in traditional economies it will be more durable in the longer-term and less volatile. Secondly, the shift towards a sustainable economy would create new opportunities, jobs and greater stability. Thirdly, the potential for conflict between nations is reduced as our dependency on fossil fuels reduces over time. Finally, there is a growing recognition (albeit begrudgingly) amongst governments that the current situation is unsustainable and the mood seems to be shifting from one of cynicism and self-interest to one of genuine commitment to tackling the problem.

The prospect of a truly sustainable global economy, fuelled by renewable energy sources coupled with a stabilised human population and harmonised with biodiversity is an ambitious yet achievable goal. But it’s a goal that requires a re-appraisal of the current meaning of economic growth.

3rd Annual Forum on Responsible Investing

New York is a bit far for me to travel to, especially as I don't fly any more. However the conference below looks interesting if anyone is out that way in January.

3rd Annual Forum on Responsible Investing
Union League Club, New York City
January 12-13, 2009

*** ESG on the Ground: Enhancing Profitability through Sustainable Investing ***

Responsible investing has well and truly infiltrated the mainstream, now showing an estimated $2.71 trillion in total assets under management. Don't get left behind in this huge growth curve.

This annual forum, produced in association with Foundation & Endowment Money Management, Money Management Letter and the Social Investment Forum, continues to grow every year along with the industry itself. Once again we will bring together a unique mix of pension funds, foundations, institutional asset managers, Wall Street firms, fund managers and ESG experts, providing a must-attend educational and networking platform for sharing the latest cutting edge trends and strategies for achieving ESG integration.

New for 2009, the forum has been expanded to two full days including a half-day workshop, offering an even more action-packed program of lively panel discussions, real-world case studies and interactive Q&A sessions.

Download Brochure

Progress on Ethical Investments at Kent County County

The Superannuation Fund Committee of Kent County Council met last week with part of the agenda to update their statement of investment principles. Greens across the country have been lobbying for ethical investments by councils with varying degrees of success. In Kent we have exposed KCCs investments in arms, tobacco, oil and companies supporting Mugabe. Kent CC's branch of Unison passed a resolution calling for adoption of the UN Principles of Responsible Investment by the committee and an end to the arms investments.

A report went to the committee which showed that there was pressure from a variety of sources:

It seems to be an appropriate time for us to update our position on ESG issues in light of a number of general factors including:
(1) The Merseyside Pension Fund has decided to ballot scheme members on whether to invest in armaments companies.
(2) For the last few years we have provided information to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) which has been published as part of a national survey.
(3) There has been recent local press coverage of “investments in Zimbabwe”, this actually refers to stocks we hold in companies which as part of their business activities undertake business in Zimbabwe such as Toyota. [n.b this was Kent Green Party highlighting this]
(4) CAFOD an agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales contacted us in May in connection with concerns about the mining sector.
(5) The Kent Green Party have been in touch with the Kent Public Health Director on investment in tobacco companies.

And this was the Unison motion:

Ethical Investment - The Arms Trade

This Branch notes the resolution passed at UNISON’s national delegate conference in 2007 calling for an end to investment by local authority pension funds in the arms trade.

This Branch is aware that Kent County Council’s Superannuation Fund Committee currently has a very weak policy regarding ethical investment, and particularly does not prohibit its Fund Managers from investment in companies that are known to produce and export weapons and / or instruments of torture.

The Branch notes that KCC’s Superannuation Fund, along with those of scores of other local authorities, invests in BAE Systems, the UK’s largest arms company, which supplies weaponry to countries including Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe.

Investment by the Superannuation Fund in the arms trade means that our members’ money is used to fund unscrupulous international arms dealers to the ultimate benefit of oppressive regimes.

Accordingly, this Branch will campaign at every opportunity for the Superannuation Fund Committee to:

Recognise the UN principles of ethical investment.
Monitor and report investments made in its name in manufacturers and traders in weapons and related products.
Withdraw from or prohibit the Fund’s investment in any organisation which (upon investigation) is identified as carrying out such sales and production.

This Branch will also develop a detailed policy on socially responsible and ethical investment, and seek to apply this policy to the Superannuation Fund through its representation on the Fund Committee.

In the face of this they have decided to adopt the UNs principles - which which is definitely progress! I can't see that we will stop campaigning until at least the arms investments are withdrawn, but for now we can say a small victory has been had, thanks to the united position with Unison, CAAT and CAFOD .