The strongest chain sustaining the UK’s carbon web is finance. Without the capital to build more carbon bombs, big polluters like BP & Shell could not survive. The continued extraction of oil and gas is fundamentally driven by the desire to generate high returns on capital: our finance campaigning seeks to redirect that capital.
In previous finance campaigning, we have engaged with institutional investors and high-street banks to stigmatise fossil fuel investment. Our current campaigns focus on UK pension funds. Pensions are a wage you get paid in the future – what is spent on now should reflect what we want to invest in now, and the future we want to retire into.
Pensions should also be seen for what they are – a huge amount of money. In the UK, pensions form a larger proportion of UK household wealth than housing, with over £3tn invested. Leveraging this capital out of fossil fuels and into the infrastructure projects our future requires will form a vital part of energy and economy transition.
Platform’s coordinates UK Divest, a network of hundreds of campaigners and councillors across the UK calling for their local government pension scheme to stop funding fossil fuels, and invest for a future worth retiring into.