A FUND which manages pensions for Monmouthshire County Council workers has invested £245m into fossil fuels, in a move described as “appalling” by campaigners.

Members of the Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund, which is part of the national Local Government Pension Scheme, includes people who work for Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent, and Caerphilly County Borough Councils, Monmouthshire County Council and Newport City Council and a number of other organisations.

The figures come as part of a report, Fuelling the Fire, produced by Friends of the Earth, 350.org, Platform and Energy Democracy Project which examines local authority pension fund investments across the UK.

The report found that, of all the Welsh local authority pension funds, Greater Gwent (Torfaen) Pension Fund is the fund with the greatest investment in fossil fuels. 

Campaigners say that investment in fossil fuels flies in the face of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act of 2015, which requires public bodies in Wales to consider environmental and sustainable development in every decision they make.

This act strives to protect future generations from the devastating impacts of climate change and local authorities are accountable to it.

Bleddyn Lake, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth Cymru, said: “It’s appalling that local authority pension funds are investing in climate-wrecking fossil fuels.

“This appears to fly in the face of the legal responsibility of public bodies to consider the well-being of people and their environment in their decision-making.?“Pension funds are supposed to provide security for workers when they retire. But with the world waking up to the necessity of ending its reliance on gas, coal and oil, the fossil fuel industry is no longer a sustainable, sensible investment choice.

“Local authorities, such as Torfaen local authority, must show some real leadership on climate change, as well as protecting pensions, by ending their investments in the fossil fuel industry.”