Snowy protest at County Hall for fossil fuel divestment

Residents of East Sussex and Brighton & Hove braved snow and near-zero temperatures this morning (November 21) to stage a 90-minute 'Divest for climate justice!' protest outside County Hall in Lewes.

Campaigners took it in turns to use a public address system to read out the names of the 1,667 institutions around the world (together worth over $40 trillion) who have made some form of commitment to divest from (ie. stop investing in) fossil fuels.

A call-and-response element to the protest saw campaigners periodically pause the name-reading to collectively chant: 'If they can do it, why can't the East Sussex Pension Fund?'

Two police officers and a large security detail involving at least ten security guards had been mobilised to 'defend' the Hall from the name-reading which was timed to coincide with the last East Sussex Pension Committee meeting of 2024.

The East Sussex Pension Fund, which covers Brighton & Hove as well as East Sussex but is administered by East Sussex County Council (ESCC), has consistently refused to stop investing in fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas). It currently has millions of pounds of local people’s pension monies invested in oil and gas companies like Shell and BP.

Institutions that have already made fossil fuel divestment commitments include: Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard Universities, Norway's Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Federal State of Berlin, two massive New York City pension funds (together valued at over $168 billion) and the Church of England [2]. To date, five UK local authority pension funds have committed to fully divest from fossil fuels: Waltham Forest, Southwark, Islington, Lambeth and Cardiff.

A long list of local organisations and individuals have called on the East Sussex Pension Fund to follow suit and make a public commitment to fully divest from fossil fuels. These include: Bexhill Town Council, Brighton & Hove City Council, Hastings Borough Council, Lewes District and Town Councils, Peacehaven Town Council, Rother District Council, Saleshurst & Robertsbridge Parish Council, and UNISON.

Pension Fund member Sarah Hazlehurst said: 'By clinging on to its remaining investments in fossil fuel companies the East Sussex Pension Fund and East Sussex County Council are effectively providing a fig-leaf for these companies’ ongoing attempts to block effective climate action and missing a huge opportunity to show real leadership on the climate crisis.

"It should be clear to everyone: if the Islington, Cardiff and New York City pension funds can all commit to stop investing in fossil fuels then so can the East Sussex Pension Fund. It's time to for the Fund to finally start taking the climate crisis seriously and divest.'