[your address] [date]

To: Councillor T Rogers, Chairman of Cambridgeshire Local Government Pension Fund Committee, Shire Hall, Castle St, Cambridge, CB3 0AJ

terry.rogers@cambridgeshire.gov.uk

Dear Councillor Rogers,

I am calling on you, as Chairman of the Cambridgeshire Pension Fund, to take the lead in ensuring the fund makes an immediate commitment to a progressive and complete divestment from all fossil fuel companies within five years.

Climate science shows that climate change is accelerating, and that we have only a few critical years to take action if we are to protect the futures of our children and grandchildren, and indeed of all life on Earth. We need leaders who are able and willing to take on this challenge, to be on the right side of history, to act decisively on this crucial issue, and to do so now.  I am asking you to be one of these leaders.

To meet global climate targets, 80% of proven fossil fuel reserves need to be left in the ground, and yet fossil fuel companies are actively prospecting for more.  Both they and their investors have a vested interest in undermining action on climate change, as their continued lobbying demonstrates.  Conversely, successful action on climate change will leave these reserves as 'stranded assets', causing companies' share prices to crash as the bubble bursts.  So urgent divestment is not just a moral imperative, but is also the prudent fiscal course. 

The Cambridgeshire Pension Fund holds an investment of over £100 million in fossil fuel companies, and is therefore a part of the problem in supporting this damaging industry.  I am calling on you to become part of the solution by making a firm commitment to divest from this industry, and in so doing helping to undermine its malign power and influence. Instead, the fund could be investing in clean energy which will help secure the future of our planet, and provide a reliable financial return.

To summarise, I am asking you to take the lead with your committee in making an immediate commitment to full divestment from fossil fuels within five years, and to urgently producing a detailed plan of how this will be achieved.   Both morally and financially, it is the only responsible course.

Yours Sincerely,

[name]