Local charity, Divest Hackney, maintained pressure on local council last night while attending the council meeting and protesting outside.

Divest Hackney continued their calls for Hackney Council to divert all investments from fossil fuel companies last night.

The group attended the town council meeting, as well as flyer-ing and protesting outside as attendees arrived.

This group are no strangers to Hackney Council by now, they have been participating in consistent activism such as last night’s since 2015.

Divest Hackney group flyer-ing and protesting outside Hackney Town Hall — Divest Hackney outside Hackney Town Hall

They take issue with the council’s investment of local pension funds into some of the top 200 business with the largest environmental impact. This includes both BP and Total.

Their activism so far has achieved vague assertions from Cllr Robert Chapman, the head of the pension committee.

Cllr Chapman has assured them that 50% of funds invested in fossil fuel companies are to be diverted. However, he has not specified a time by which this will have been achieved.

He has since emphasised the difficulty of redistribution of assets, claiming that it cannot be achieved quickly due to the council’s ‘fiduciary responsibility’ to the Hackney community.

Stine Williamson, a Divest Hackney member, said last night that “this promise does not go far enough. We understand it can be a slow process moving money, but we want this done as soon as possible.”

The activists proceeded to attend the council meeting, presenting three questions to the councillors. They were requesting clarification from the council on their net carbon goal of 2040, as well as enquiring after a Green New Deal for Hackney.

But Professor Jean-Pascal Gond, who teaches Corporate Social Responsibility at Cass Business school, disagrees with the group’s workings:

“The fact that they have made the promise at all is a positive thing.

“Divestment is always a last resort and departing from fossil fuel companies so quickly would mean losing your seat at the table, and maybe the chance to change the company from the inside.”

We contacted Hackney Town Council for a statement but no one was available for comment.

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HeadlineActivists continue pressure on Hackney Council’s pension funds investments

Short HeadlineActivists question Hackney Council pension investments

StandfirstActivists are against council's investment of local pension funds into some of the top 200 business with the largest environmental impact.

Local charity, Divest Hackney, maintained pressure on local council last night while attending the council meeting and protesting outside.

Divest Hackney continued their calls for Hackney Council to divert all investments from fossil fuel companies last night. The group attended the town council meeting, as well as flyer-ing and protesting outside as attendees arrived.

This group are no strangers to Hackney Council by now, they have been participating in consistent activism such as last night’s since 2015.

They take issue with the council’s investment of local pension funds into some of the top 200 business with the largest environmental impact. This includes both BP and Total.

Their activism so far has achieved vague assertions from Cllr Robert Chapman, the head of the pension committee. Chapman has assured them that 50% of funds invested in fossil fuel companies are to be diverted. However, he has not specified a time by which this will have been achieved. He has since emphasised the difficulty of redistribution of assets, claiming that it cannot be achieved quickly due to the council’s ‘fiduciary responsibility’ to the Hackney community.

Stine Williamson, a Divest Hackney member, said last night that ‘this promise does not go far enough. We understand it can be a slow process moving money, but we want this done asap’.

There are some, though, who have argued against the group’s requests. Such as Professor Jean-Pascal Gond, a Professor of Corporate Social Responsibility from Cass Business school.’The fact that they have made the promise at all is a positive thing’, he says. He argues that ‘divestment is always a last resort’, and that ‘departing from fossil fuel companies so quickly would mean losing your seat at the table, and maybe the chance to change the company from the inside’.