Calderdale Council has agreed to formally request the West Yorkshire Pension Fund – from which local authority staff in the region are paid their pensions – divests from “fossil fuel” companies.

After a debate on which councillors were split, the ruling Labour group, also supported by the Liberal Democrats, agreed to endorse Cabinet’s decision that the council Leader, Coun Tim Swift (Lab, Town) and Chief Executive Robin Tuddenham jointly write to the Chief Operating Officer of West Yorkshire Pension Fund to request that it divest of their fossil fuels investment within three years, and to invest instead in alternatives such as green energy that are expected to offer returns over the long term.

The argued the move should be made on both environmental and economic grounds and is in line with one of the Cities Race to Net Zero pledges.

Coun Swift told councillors in the meeting at Halifax Minster: “The reality is the amount of fossil fuel reserves exceeds the amount of carbon that can safely be released.

“It is not necessarily reflective on current market prices but that could change rapidly. We think it is an appropriate time to get the fund to think again about their investments.”

Liberal Democrat group leader Coun James Baker (Lib Dem, Warley) supported the move and said the aim was to get people in economic circles to think more holistically about impact on the environment.

But Coun Stephen Baines (Con, Northowram and Shelf) said he was very concerned and said his own track record as a member of  the investment fund’s advisory panel included voting in favour of investment in windfarms even though he personally thought they spiled the landscape.

Disinvestment in tobacco companies had been urged in 2015 but members instead agreed to influence what those companies did by attending annual general meetings and they had changed, and continued to bring good returns for pensioners. Companies like Shell and BP would do similar, he said.

He also accused Labour councilllors of hypocrisy as the council had invested in land at Mytholmroyd which housed the Co-op supermarket which had a petrol station and it was the latter that made the investment profitable.

Coun Silvia Dacre (Lab, Todmorden) said it was a supermarket which had a petrol station and it provided an important local service but the motion being debated was a step on the road to ensuring a future where people would not need to use petrol cars with money put into other technologies.

Coun Jenny Lynn (Lab, Park), who also sits on the fund’s advisory panel, said there were financial considerations for disinvestment and reminded members that few years ago coal investments had nosedived.

“It is really important the fund does not retain investments whose asset value could decline sharply in future years,” she said.

She said the environmental argument was that 80 per cent of fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground if there is to be any chance of keeping global warming temperature rises to 1.5 degrees celsius (the Paris Agreement target) this century.

Coun Colin Raistrick (Ind, Hipperholme and Lightcliffe) said politicians should stay out of pension issues even if they thought they knew  best and regardless of councillors’ talents the idea he would take pensions advice from them was “crackers”.

“If you want a good pension, invest with the proper investment portfolio and people who know what they are talking about, not councillors,” he said.

After the meeting, Pension Fund Chair, Bradford councillor Andrew Thornton (Lab, Royds) said the WYPF already recognises the risks of climate change to its investments and the concerns of those arguing for a divestment from fossil fuel companies.

“The fund is committed to achieving a net-zero portfolio for its investments and implementing this commitment with the aim of achieving real economy emissions reductions,” he said.

Coun Thornton said the fund also had a responsibility to meet the needs of its members – local authority staff – currently and in the future and explained how this was being done with climate change considerations in mind.

“The primary obligation of the Fund is to meet current and future member benefit requirements.

“To achieve this, various categories of investments are used to meet the required return, spread over a large and diversified portfolio to mitigate risks. This is set out in WYPF’s Investment Strategy Statement (ISS),” he said.

Coun Thornton said this statement specifically recognises climate change risk and WYPF’s commitment to achieving net-zero green house gas emissions in its portfolio.

“This is integral to ensure the resilience of the broader investment strategy over short, medium and longer terms.

“WYPF is signed-up to the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC) Net Zero commitment statement, which includes transitioning its investments to achieve net-zero portfolio GHG emissions by 2050, or sooner.

“Over the last decade WYPF has increasingly invested in ‘green’ and renewable energy technologies.

“The fund has £630 million invested and a further £150 million committed to this area – an amount greater than its investments in direct oil and gas producers – accounting for almost five per cent of the value of the fund,” he said.