More than 80% of respondents to a consultation on Islington Council's Pension Fund backed proposals to end investments in companies linked to conflict, genocide and human rights abuses, including a potential divestment from Palantir Technologies.
The six-week consultation, run by data specialists Prevision, asked pension fund members for views on three proposals: strengthening the fund's responsible investment statement on human rights; disposing of holdings in companies listed on the UN Human Rights Commissioner's database of businesses operating in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; and ending the fund's roughly £1.4m investment in Palantir Technologies, whose software has weapons applications and has reportedly been used in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
All three proposals won majority backing, with at least 80% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing on each question. Prevision described the 6.1% response rate, 1,343 of the fund's 22,000 members, as ‘very respectable’.
The fund currently holds 0.1% of its total value in companies profiting from the Gaza conflict, which the consultation sought views on reducing to zero.
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Cllr Paul Convery, Islington's Executive Member for Finance, said the results are being fully analysed, with further steps expected ahead of the Pension Fund Committee's September meeting.
‘For years, we’ve been working to make sure our pension fund leads the way in ethical divestment – we’ve withdrawn investments in arms manufacturers, and have significantly lowered our exposure to companies involved in conflicts,’ he said.
‘We’ve carried out an extensive consultation exercise to understand the views of pension fund members, and many of them have come forward to tell us about the approach they want the fund to take.’
