East Lothian Council has been accused of hypocrisy after declaring a climate emergency despite its pension scheme investing millions of pounds into non-environmentally friendly companies.

First reported in the East Lothian Courier, it was found that the council had committed to East Lothian carbon neutrality within 25 years while having £83m invested in five of Scotland’s top 12 polluting firms.

Amongst the Lothian Pension Fund’s investments were £27.6m in ExxonMobil, which was listed at the third biggest polluter in Scotland by a 2017 poll from SEPA, and £16m in SSE Gas.

Commenting, Scottish Green member for Lothian, Alison Johnstone, said: “Councils cannot declare a climate emergency then avoid taking action.

“It requires an emergency response, and that includes switching to ethical environmental investments for a sustainable future, not ploughing our pension funds into the fossil fuel industry.”

Its other investments include, Shell, GlaxoSmithKline and US defence firm Raytheon.

An East Lothian Council spokesperson told the East Lothian Courier: “East Lothian Council pension investments are managed on our behalf and that of our neighbouring local authorities by the Lothian Pension Fund, which has a responsible investment policy.

“In taking forward our plans for the draft climate change strategy, we have recognised that a partnership approach is required to ensure that we can all play our part in the national and international efforts to reduce carbon emissions.”

However, although climate change campaigner, Shena Jamieson, said that she “welcomed” the climate emergency motion, it seemed like “double standards”.

She continued: “I researched the investments in the Lothian Pension Fund to find that there were investments worth approximately £83m in five of Scotland’s top 12 polluting companies and investments worth approximately £66m in seven of the world’s top 30 greenhouse gas emitters.

“Surely this is double standards?”

The scheme oversees pensions for local government workers in Edinburgh and the Lothians, not just East Lothian Council employees.

An East Lothian Council spokesperson concluded: “The draft strategy sets out a number of proposals to tackle climate change.

“We have been considering the response to the consultation and will bring forward an updated strategy to a meeting of the council cabinet later this year.”

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