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Church of England to pull investment from fossil fuel companies

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Supermajor Shell argued on Tuesday that a court ruling in the Netherlands forcing it to slash its greenhouse gas emissions has no legal basis.
Supermajor Shell argued on Tuesday that a court ruling in the Netherlands forcing it to slash its greenhouse gas emissions has no legal basis. Credit: Rebecca Speare-Cole/PA Wire

The Church of England is pulling its investment from fossil fuel companies because they are failing to align with the Paris Agreement, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

By the end of the year, the Church said it will have removed its £10.3 billion endowment fund from all oil and gas companies unless they are in genuine alignment with limiting global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

BP, Ecopetrol, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, Pemex, Repsol, Sasol, Shell, and Total will be excluded from the Church’s investments, joining 20 others that were excluded in 2021.

The Church Commissioners for England, which manages the endowment fund, and the Pensions Board, said they had made their decision to divest after attempts to engage oil and gas majors on decarbonisation had failed.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: “We have long urged companies to take climate change seriously, and specifically to align with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, and pursue efforts to limit the rise in temperature to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

The Church said its National Investing Bodies (NIBs) have long tried to enact meaningful change among fossil fuel companies but in 2018, the General Synod agreed NIBs should divest their resources, by the end of 2023, from those companies not aligned with the short, medium and long-term goals of the Paris Agreement.

Alan Smith, first church estates commissioner, said: “The decision to disinvest was not taken lightly.

“Soberingly, the energy majors have not listened to significant voices in the societies and markets they serve and are not moving quickly enough on the transition.

“If any of these energy companies come into alignment with our criteria in the future, we would reconsider our position.

“Indeed, that is something we would hope for.”

The exclusion will apply to companies involved in oil and gas exploration, production and refinement and equity debt investments.

Press Association – Danny Halpin