DAVID Warburton is one of two Conservative MPs to have signed a cross-party letter calling on their pension fund to divest from fossil fuel companies.
The letter, coordinated by Zarah Sultana, Labour MP for Coventry South, has been signed by 132 MPs.
Over half of the Parliamentary Labour Party (107 out of 199 members) has signed the letter, alongside 13 Scottish National Party MPs and five Liberal Democrats, among others.
Derek Thomas was the only other Tory MP to sign the letter, written to try and prevent MPs' pensions from "contributing to temperatures rising above 1.5°C".
The letter, addressed to trustees of the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund (PCPF), says: "This month Britain hosts Cop26, a historic global summit addressing the gravest threat facing humanity – the climate emergency.
"As hosts, we have a responsibility to rise to this challenge, showing leadership on the world’s stage.
"That is why we, a group of cross-party MPs, write to urge you to divest the PCPF from the fossil fuel industry."
The letter, shared on Twitter yesterday, continues: "As PCPF trustees, you have shown you are able to respond to the climate emergency, reducing investments in fossil fuel companies.
"But we believe you must go a step further, divesting from the fossil fuel industry in its entirety, as quickly as possible."
The MPs' Pension Fund – which automatically includes all MPs – invests in fossil fuel companies. That means Parliament funds climate disaster.
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) November 8, 2021
My letter – signed by 132 cross-party colleagues – calls for MPs to lead by example and divest Parliament from the fossil fuel industry: pic.twitter.com/uIMGEowO05
The letter says if temperatures rise beyond 1.5°C, "then by the time younger members are old enough to draw our pensions, a full-blown climate catastrophe will have struck, with ice caps melting, food systems collapsed and deadly extreme weather becoming the norm".
It ends: "Let us get our house in order by aligning our pension investments with a green and prosperous zero carbon future that helps to contain global heating to below 1.5°C.
"The world’s eyes are on us.
"It is time we show true leadership and divest Parliament from the fossil fuel industry."
Mr Warburton said Cop26 put the UK "at the centre of international diplomacy and coalition-building in a pivotal moment for climate action".
The letter is part of the Divest Parliament campaign, which has been backed by more than 360 current and former MPs.
The list of politicians who have signed the Divest Parliament pledge includes Somerset MPs David Warburton, Rebecca Pow and James Heappey.
The letter's coordinator Zarah Sultana said she is worried the Cop26 summit in Glasgow will be a "failure".
Speaking at Trafalgar Square, where thousands of people had gathered to demand bolder climate policies, she said: "So far, what’s coming out of Cop26 doesn’t look far enough.
"There have been some policy announcements coming out around coal, but not everyone is even signing up to that.
"Messages that are coming from the street outside from Greta Thunberg and others calling it a greenwash, a festival for the global north to just do PR, that tells us that there isn’t much potentially going to be achieved.
"There’s a few days of Cop still to go, so I remain hopeful that we do get something as strong as the Paris agreement.
"So far, it worries me that it will be a failure and that will mean millions of peoples lives are at risk, and we can’t afford that.
"So, I really hope that the leaders there put something down on paper, and it has to be as strong as possible to keep us under 1.5 degrees."
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