Campaigners To Hand Petition Into East Sussex County Council Against Fossil Fuel Investment

Over 5,200 people call on County Councl to stop investing in fossil fuels and support a proper permanent windfall tax on Big Oil.

Local campaigners carrying a seven-foot by four-foot 'oil barrel' bearing the words 'Tax Big Oil / Divest Now' will be handing-in a petition with over 5,200 signatures at County Hall in Lewes today (Tuesday 21 March). The campaigners will assemble outside Lewes station at 8.45am before staging a bagpiper-led procession through the streets to County Hall where the official hand-in will take place.

Over 5,200 people from East Sussex, Brighton and Hove have signed the petition which demands that East Sussex County Council (ESCC) 'stops investing in fossil fuels, and that it publicly supports a proper permanent windfall tax on Big Oil and a rapid transition to a system that provides affordable green energy for everyone.' [2] 

The group believe this will be enough signatures to trigger a debate on these issues at the Council's meeting on May 9. If so then this would be the second time in less than four years that members of the public have forced the council to debate its continued investment in fossil fuels [3]. 

The petition has the support of a wide range of local organisations including: Brighton Energy Co-op, Eastbourne Climate Coalition, Divest East Sussex, Energise Sussex Coast, Frack Free Sussex, Friends of the Earth Brighton & Hove, Hastings & District Trades Council, Just Stop Oil – Sussex University, Lewes Climate Hub, Seaford Environmental Alliance, South East Climate Alliance, Transition Town Lewes, Weald Action Group, XR Eastbourne and XR Hastings & St Leonards.

The East Sussex Pension Fund, which covers Brighton & Hove as well as East Sussex, is administered by East Sussex County Council (ESCC). It currently has tens of millions of pounds of local people’s pension monies invested in the giant oil and gas companies, like Shell and BP, that they say are driving the climate crisis [4].

Campaigners stage a tug of war between fossil fuels and climate action outside County Hall, 6 December 2022. Photo: Steve Lewis

In September, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated that:

"We need to hold fossil fuel companies and their enablers to account. That includes the banks, private equity, asset managers and other financial institutions that continue to invest and underwrite carbon pollution."

He also called "on all developed economies to tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies. Those funds should be re-directed in two ways: to countries suffering loss and damage caused by the climate crisis; and to people struggling with rising food and energy prices" [5].

In a similar vein, climate lawyer Tessa Khan has noted that:

"The loophole [in the current “windfall tax” on companies like Shell] amounts to us effectively giving £11 billion to oil and gas companies … enough to make sure that every NHS worker and every teacher in the UK gets an inflation matching pay rise." [6] 

Pension Fund member and lead-petitioner Sarah Hazlehurst said:

"By clinging on to its remaining investments in fossil fuel companies ESCC is effectively providing a fig-leaf for these companies’ ongoing attempts to block effective climate action. By contrast, a public commitment to ditch these investments (‘divestment’) would send a powerful signal to policymakers to get serious about tackling the climate emergency, which requires the rapid phasing out of fossil fuels. These companies are driving the climate crisis: it's time for ESCC to make a public commitment to fully divest from them.

"Likewise, ESCC should be publicly supporting a proper windfall tax on Big Oil. Such a tax could be used to help protect those struggling to pay for food and energy, as well as those suffering as a result of the climate crisis. A public statement of support for such a move from ESCC would put significant pressure on the government to change policy, precisely because this is a Tory-controlled Council."

---------------

[1] https://divesteastsussex.wordpress.com
[2] https://tinyurl.com/affordablegreenenergy 
[3] https://divesteastsussex.wordpress.com/2019/10/15/323/ 
[4] The Fund’s reported ‘fossil fuel exposure’ as at 31 March 2021 was £82.2m (see https://tinyurl.com/ffexposure, page 25). However, this figure is believed to have fallen since then, following subsequent decisions by the East Sussex Pension Committee. According to a June 2021 document circulated by the Fund, its actual exposure to fossil fuel producers may now be as low as 0.5%: https://divesteastsussex.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/response-email-to-new-councillors-june-21.pdf. As at 30 September ’22 the Fund was valued at £4.502bn (see the 260th page of this document https://democracy.eastsussex.gov.uk/documents/g5164/Public%20reports%20pack%2030th-Nov-2022%2010.00%20Pension%20Committee.pdf?T=10). 0.5% of £4.575bn is £22.51m.
[5] https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/speeches/2022-09-20/secretary-generals-address-the-general-assembly
[6] https://twitter.com/NEON_UK/status/1621111129358635008