DORSET Council is one of three local authorities in the South West with the largest percentage of assets invested in fossil fuels.

A report by environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth and Platform revealed that the pension fund of Dorset invests around 4.49 per cent of the fund’s value into fossil fuels.

According to the campaigners, Dorset, Devon, and Avon council pension funds account for 58 per cent of all fossil fuel investments by Local Authority Pension Funds in the South West.

Co-ordinator of East Dorset Friends of the Earth, Angela Pooley told the Daily Echo: “Our first thought on this report, along with the national Friends of the Earth, was that we should be moving away from fossil fuels and, locally, there should be no more investment at all in fossil fuels.

“We are working with Dorset Council and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council on their climate plans.

“We are pushing for sustainable transport and reducing the desire to drive everywhere.

“The important thing is getting everyone aware that we can make a difference.

“The council can encourage us by changing the little things, including switching to sustainable fuel.”

The report by the campaigners, namely the LGPS Divestment Report, includes information based on the position of the Dorset County Pension Fund at the end of the 2019/20 financial year.

In the period since then, Dorset has “undertaken a major strategic review of its investment strategy” and in September 2020, agreed a new decarbonisation strategy.

Chairman of the Dorset County Pension Fund, councillor Andy Canning,said: “We are fully supportive of the declaration of a climate emergency and have made changes that will deliver significant reductions in our carbon footprint.

“Our intention is to substantially reduce our carbon footprint without sacrificing returns.”

Dorset Council has detailed the county’s new investment strategy.

This includes investing 20 per cent of its equity investments into Brunel Pension Partnership’s new Global Sustainable Equities Fund.

Investments will be switched from UK based portfolios (with a relatively high exposure to fossil fuels) to global equity mandates (with a lower exposure to fossil fuels).

The council is also supporting the objective of Brunel to reduce the carbon footprint of its main equity funds by seven per cent year-on-year over the next three years.