A cross-party group of MPs is calling on the Parliamentary pension fund to take a stand on investments in tar sand oil extraction, due to environmental and social risks, and question marks over financial sustainability.

On Thursday 11 March, an Early Day Motion was published stating that the extraction of oil from tar sands, which produces on average three times the amount of greenhouse gases as the conventional method, is a financially unsustainable option.

The Motion proposes that the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund votes in favour of shareholder resolutions to force BP and Shell, two oil firms involved in the practice, on the investment risks that are associated with their tar sands projects.

The resolutions were filed by a coalition of institutional and individual investors, including the Co-operative. This Parliamentary stance follows the resolution filed for the Royal Dutch Shell plc AGM in January.

Resolution co-filers believe that BP and Shell risk both financial and reputational damage in the long-term due to their development of what some investors view as unsustainable assets.

Simon Hughes MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, said: "Tar sands are a very risky investment - financially, environmentally and socially. The resolutions ask BP and Shell to report to their investors on how they are managing these risks. Government should lead by example and be a responsible investor; for this reason it is essential that the MPs' pension fund supports these resolutions."

Duncan Exley, director of campaigns at FairPensions, which coordinated the resolutions, added: "Institutional investors like pension funds have an interest in ensuring that companies are financially (and environmentally) sustainable. We urge the MPs' fund to act as a responsible investor by holding BP and Shell to account over their activities in the tar sands."

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