FOI request details
Request
Subject: Russian Fossil Fuel Investments
Reference: WBC-FOI-00548
I am making an FOI enquiry regarding the Wandsworth Pension Fund and investments in Russian fossil fuel companies.
Could you answer the below questions?
1. Could you provide a link to the webpage where you hold information on your pension fund?
2. How much money does your pension fund currently have invested in Russian fossil fuel companies?
a. Can you break the value of investment down by type of investment (e.g: how much of it is active, passive, direct, indirect, pooled, etc)?
3. How much money did your pension fund have invested in Russian fossil fuel companies on 6th April 2022?
a. Can you break the value of investment down by type of investment (e.g: how much of it is active, passive, direct, indirect, pooled, etc)?
4. Have you agreed a policy to divest from Russian fossil fuel investments in your pension fund?
a. If you have agreed to divest, can you provide relevant policy documents?
b. How much money has your pension fund divested from Russian fossil fuel investments since you agreed your policy to do so?
5. If you have not agreed a divestment policy, have you agreed to freeze your investments in Russian fossil fuel companies?
a. If you have agreed to freeze investments, can you provide relevant policy documents?
6. If you have not agreed to freeze or divest, what is your policy for Russian fossil fuel investments in your pension fund?
7. What is the total size of investment of your pension fund?
a. Of this total, what percentage of the total do Russian fossil fuel investments represent?
Response
Full Disclosure - 3 February 2023
Request for Information - WBC-FOI-00548 - Russian Fossil Fuel Investments
I refer to your request for information received on 24 January 2023. Please see the information below in response to your request: -
1.Could you provide a link to the webpage where you hold information on your pension fund?
We have a page for pension fund documents https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/the-council/how-the-council-works/council-finances/wandsworth-pension-fund/
Reports and other information about our Joint Pensions Committee (which is responsible for making investment decisions) are available here Joint Pensions Committee
2.How much money does your pension fund currently have invested in Russian fossil fuel companies?
The Fund does not hold any active investment in Russian fossil fuel companies.
The Fund has 2 passive global equity mandates which will invest in Russian fossil fuel companies in proportion to their market capitalisation. As these are passive investments we do not require regular detailed monitoring from the managers. However, when we asked our managers about exposure to Russia generally in early 2022 they did have small holdings (approx. 0.11% of the whole pension fund) prior to the war, but these lost all value due to the war, so while they still held the shares they had no value. We have not asked for updated figures as the value of the investment prior to the devaluation was insignificant.
a.Can you break the value of investment down by type of investment (e.g: how much of it is active, passive, direct, indirect, pooled, etc)?
See 2 above - we would only hold this via passive pooled equity investment.
3.How much money did your pension fund have invested in Russian fossil fuel companies on 6th April 2022?
As stated at 2 we do not ask for regular detailed monitoring on our passive equity investment, which is the only place we hold Russian fossil fuel investment. We were advised by our fund managers that the value of these investments had fallen to nil value by the end of March 2022 as disclosed in our audited accounts (p57 of the Pension Fund Annual Report 2021/22)
a.Can you break the value of investment down by type of investment (e.g: how much of it is active, passive, direct, indirect, pooled, etc)?
See 3 above - nil value at this date
4.Have you agreed a policy to divest from Russian fossil fuel investments in your pension fund?
We have no divestment policies for our Fund. The Fund does have clear risk objectives as well as a commitment to net zero, and our active managers have all stated that they would not hold Russian fossil fuel for these reasons.
In addition, when the Russia/Ukraine conflict was discussed at Joint Pensions Committee on 16 March 2022 in the General Matters paper 22-109, the Committee 'were keen to express, as far as this was possible, their desire for these investments to be disposed of when possible.' (full minutes available Minutes Paper 22-109) .
a.If you have agreed to divest, can you provide relevant policy documents?
n/a see above minute reference for Committee discussion of this issue.
b.How much money has your pension fund divested from Russian fossil fuel investments since you agreed your policy to do so?
n/a see above
5.If you have not agreed a divestment policy, have you agreed to freeze your investments in Russian fossil fuel companies?
See response to 4 above.
a.If you have agreed to freeze investments, can you provide relevant policy documents?
See Minutes Paper 22-109 for the Committee's comments on this issue.
6.If you have not agreed to freeze or divest, what is your policy for Russian fossil fuel investments in your pension fund?
See response to 4 above.
7.What is the total size of investment of your pension fund?
£2.575bn at 30th September 2022.
a.Of this total, what percentage of the total do Russian fossil fuel investments represent?
We have not asked managers for updated allocations but it will be no higher than the 0.11% holding at 31 January 2022 and is most likely to be nil.
I hope this information meets your needs. If you do not understand the information provided or wish to discuss anything further, please feel free to contact us.
Please note, all material provided by the Council in response to your request for information is for your personal, non-commercial use. The Council reserves all rights in the copyright of the information provided. Any unauthorised copying or adaptation of the information without express written confirmation from The Council may constitute an infringement of copyright. Any intention to re-use this information commercially may require consent. Please forward any requests for re-use of information to the FOI officer.
If you are dissatisfied with the information provided in relation to your request, you may make representations to the Information and Transparency Manager. Any such request for an internal review should be made within 40 days from today's date. Correspondence should be addressed to: FOIW@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision at: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
Regards,
FOI and DPA Officer
FOIW@richmondandwandsworth.gov.uk
Please note that our responses were accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of release, and have not subsequently been updated. This information should be considered an historical record only.