CofE rejects fossil fuel investments

The Church Commissioners and The Church of England Pensions Board have announced they will divest £12 million of investments from the thermal coal and tar sands sectors and will not, in future, make any direct investments in any company where more than 10% of its revenues are derived from the extraction of thermal coal or the production of oil from tar sands.

The move follows the adoption of a new climate change policy recommended by the Church’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group that sets out how its investing bodies will support the transition to a low carbon economy.

The Rev Canon Professor Richard Burridge, deputy chair of the advisory group, said: “Climate change is already a reality. From an ethical perspective the focus of the investing bodies must be on assisting the transition to a low carbon economy. The Church has a moral responsibility to speak and act on both environmental stewardship and justice for the world’s poor who are most vulnerable to climate change. This responsibility encompasses not only the Church’s own work to reduce our own carbon footprint, but also how the Church’s money is invested and how we engage with companies on this vital issue.”