Bright Now

CCLA Investment Management launches fossil free fund

Investment management company CCLA, which manages investments on behalf of many Church of England dioceses and local churches, as well as Churches of other denominations, has announced that its COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund is going fossil free.

Following the United Reformed Church decision to fully divest from fossil fuels in May, Church investors approached their fund managers, CCLA, to ask if they would offer a fossil free fund. CCLA announced that its COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund would restrict investment in companies generating more than 10 per cent of their revenues from fossil fuels by 1 December 2019.

In a letter on its website announcing the decision, CCLA highlighted the growing demand from clients who do not wish to invest in fossil fuels: ‘Increasing numbers of charities view the extraction of fossil fuels as an inherently unethical activity.’

CCLA’s fund that manages investments on behalf of many Church of England churches and dioceses, the CBF Church of England Funds, will continue to invest in fossil fuels. However, the COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund is available to Church of England churches and dioceses wishing to exclude fossil fuel investments, as well as Churches of other denominations, religious orders and charities.

As well as the United Reformed Church and various URC Synods, several other existing CCLA clients have decided to move their investments into the fossil free fund. At the start of London Climate Action Week in July, the RSA announced that it would be divesting from fossil fuels and switching to CCLA’s COIF Ethical Investment Fund.

CCLA joins several other investment management companies, including Rathbone Greenbank and BMO Global Asset Management, in offering clients the opportunity to go fossil free.

Rathbone Greenbank manages investments on behalf of Quakers in Britain, which divested from fossil fuels in 2013. BMO Global Asset Management announced in 2017 that its responsible funds range would have completed divestment by the start of 2020. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, is the President of BMO Global Asset Management’s Responsible Investment Advisory Council.

James Buchanan, Bright Now Campaign Manager at Operation Noah, said: ‘It is wonderful news that CCLA has decided to create a fossil free fund. This offers a great opportunity to local churches and dioceses to act prophetically by shifting their investments out of the problem and into the solution.’