Fife Pension Fund has over 36,000 members, including employees of Fife Council, Fife College, Fife Housing Association and a range of other public and charitable bodies in the local area.[1]
Fife Pension Fund is worth over £2.5 billion. A list of assets supplied under freedom of information shows that the fund held shares worth more than £3.5 million (0.1% of the fund) in four nuclear weapons producers as at 30 September 2020:
| Company | Value of shares (£) |
| BAE Systems | 789,245 |
| General Dynamics | 737,137 |
| Lockheed Martin | 1,471,479 |
| Thales | 571,334 |
| Total | 3,569,195 |
In September 2019, Fife Council became the fifth local authority in the UK to pass a resolution in support of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as part of the ICAN Cities Appeal initiative.[2] The treaty, which entered into force on 22 January 2021, prohibits the development, production, testing and use of nuclear weapons (see section 1.2).
Fife Pension Fund’s investments in four major nuclear weapons producers are clearly at odds with Fife Council’s support for the treaty.
Policy
Fife Pension Fund’s statement of investment principles says that fund managers should consider environmental, climate change, social and governance issues when making investment decisions as part of “a holistic analysis of financially material issues”.[3] The pensions committee believes that “mechanistic divestment is inconsistent with the Fund’s fiduciary duty to members and employers” and instead employs Hermes Equity Ownership Services to undertake engagement on the fund’s behalf.
We contend that engagement is unlikely to change company behaviour in relation to nuclear weapons (see section 3A.1), while nuclear weapons investments are incompatible with fiduciary duty (see section 3A.2).
In order to be consistent with the council’s support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, Fife Pension Fund should exclude nuclear weapons producers from investment.
Action
If you live in Fife, please ask your local councillors to support a resolution that calls on Fife Pension Fund to divest from nuclear weapons: https://nukedivestmentscotland.org/local-authority-divestment-resolutions/
NOTES
[1] http://publications.fifedirect.org.uk/c64_FifeCouncilPensionFundAnnualReport2019-20-draft.pdf.
[2] https://www.nuclearpolicy.info/news/international-day-eliminate-nuclear-weapons-fife-council-5th-uk-council-support-treaty-prohibit-nuclear-weapons/.
[3] http://publications.fifedirect.org.uk/c64_FifeCouncilPensionFundAnnualReport2019-20-draft.pdf.
Don't Bank on the Bomb Scotland 