A COUNCIL leader has urged Oxfordshire's Pension Fund Committee to stop investing in fossil fuel companies.

Sue Cooper, who has been in charge at the authority since May, sent a letter to the Local Government Pension Scheme for Oxfordshire.

That controls the pension fund for 200 employers and thousands of employees across the county and is worth just over £1,800m.

The fund said in May that it wanted to look if should end all fossil fuel investments or work with companies to reduce their impact at a 'workshop' later this year.

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Mrs Cooper told the committee: "Given the challenge of limiting the effects of climate change, we believe that it is inappropriate that the Oxfordshire Pension Fund maintains links with companies whose very purpose is the extraction and sale of carbon intensive energy. Moreover, these investments are not in alignment with either South Oxfordshire’s or the UK’s declaration of a climate emergency."

She added: "These non-renewable energy corporations are the primary drivers of the climate crisis that is threatening our planet, with research showing that none of the 10 largest publicly listed oil and gas producers are on track to achieve net zero emissions by 2050."