Islington Council still holds investments in oil and gas company Shell through the borough pension fund, despite having declared a climate emergency in 2019 and having committed to reducing Islington’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2030.
Sebastian Sandys from Islington Extinction Rebellion told Islington Now: “Shell is a major player in the destruction of the Okavango Delta [swamp territory in Botswana] … They’re a private company whose sole purpose is to make money for their shareholders, but it’s the job of our politicians to regulate those private companies. Islington Council cannot regulate the oil industry, but they can certainly not invest their pension funds in it and it is a disgrace that they still do that.”
Shell is also involved in other environmental controversies over its historic actions in the Niger Delta and a legal battle over its net zero target.
Although Shell is currently trying to pull its operations out of Nigeria, this leaves behind a significant legacy of environmental damage.
According to Amnesty International the Nigerian government has recorded 17.5 million litres worth of oil spilled in the Niger Delta by Shell between 2011 and 2017: the equivalent of 17 Olympic swimming pools. A 2021 ruling found that polluted Nigerian communities can sue Shell in the British courts.
Shell is currently appealing a ruling in the Netherlands that would compel them to reduce its emissions, including from the fuel it sells, by 45% before 2030. Instead, the company has outlined a strategy that would see it reach net zero emissions by 2050, 20 years after Islington council’s net zero deadline.
Activist shareholders and the environmental law firm Client Earth are currently suing the directors of Shell for failing to produce a strategy in line with the targets of the 2015 Paris Climate Accords.
At a meeting of the pensions sub-committee on 14 March the advisor for asset manager MJ Hudson said: “The manager has justified their position in Shell on the basis that the company has a clear plan to shift the business away from fossil fuels and they want to be able to capture the return benefit as that begins to play through”.
Chair of the subcommittee, Councillor Paul Convery, asked later “I’m glad you’ve drawn our attention to the fact that Newton [an asset management firm] has got this large Shell holding. How confident are we that the manager is right that there’s a clear plan?”
The MJ Hudson representative offered a justification for the holdings. Mary Green of Democratic Services Law and Governance at the Council summarised the justification to Islington Now as follows: “The Islington Pension Fund will not withdraw its shares from Shell immediately. Shell is transitioning to being lower carbon and its shares will reflect that, with the price hopefully improving in time. The Pension Fund invests for the long term, so will hold onto these shares.”
In 2017 staff at Islington Council lobbied the council to divest the pension fund of fossil fuel holdings in Shell and BP.
Islington Council’s environmental policy contains commitments to maximising local renewable energy.
Mr Sandys raised wider concerns about the environmental credentials of the council saying: “I stood with them on the town hall steps in 2019 when they declared a climate emergency and really what they have done, what they have achieved since then, you could write on the back of a postage stamp.”
