Liberal Democrat Councillor Derek Heffernan has proposed a motion to the Oldham Council (Wednesday 20 March) asking the Greater Manchester Pension Fund to review its investments in fracking operations and in fossil fuels in light of the recent decision by the Mayor of Greater Manchester and the leaders of the ten local authorities making up the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to ‘presume’ against fracking when considering planning applications.
Councillor Heffernan, who has previously served as the representative of Oldham Council on the board of the Pension Fund, described it as a ‘dilemma’.
“How can we retain investments in fracking and in fossil fuels when the presumption is because of their environmental impact that these are a bad thing and to be avoided? We need our pension fund managers to take a long hard look at the situation and to consider if they are doing the right thing in retaining these investments.”