CAMPAIGNERS are thanking Oxford City Council for being the first in the country to take a stance against investing in fossil fuel companies.

Members of Fossil Free Oxfordshire will present a ‘thank you’ card to the council today, after it decided in July 2014 to stop investing in fossil fuel companies.

Now the group is putting pressure on Oxfordshire County Council to do the same.

Al Chisholm, of the campaign group, said: “We’ve been talking to the county council pension fund committee about the dangers of fossil fuel investments for about two years.

“Although it has indicated it is beginning to appreciate the dangers of fossil fuel investments, the pace of their action is no match for the urgency of the climate crisis.”

Research by Friends of the Earth shows the county council local government pension scheme has £55,609,000 invested in fossil fuel companies.

Peter Wallis, a member of Oxfordshire’s Local Government Pension Scheme, said: “We don’t want our pensions to destroy our future.

“We have been asking members of the Oxfordshire LGPS to let Stewart Lilly, who chairs the pension fund committee, know they share both our concerns about climate change and about the financial prudence of continued investment in these companies.”