{"id":244375,"date":"2022-11-30T12:48:48","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T10:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/investment-manager-says-no-to-fossil-fuel-free-investment-fund\/"},"modified":"2022-11-30T12:48:48","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T10:48:48","slug":"investment-manager-says-no-to-plea-for-fossil-fuel-free-investment-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/investment-manager-says-no-to-plea-for-fossil-fuel-free-investment-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Investment manager says no to plea for fossil fuel-free investment fund"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Activists from Fossil Free South Africa, seen here at the University of Cape Town a year ago, have called on South Africa\u2019s major investment fund managers to set up a fossil-free fund. Archive photo: Marecia Damons<\/p>\n

Investment giant Allan Gray has said no to pleas by activist group Fossil Free South Africa (FFSA), on behalf of more than 100 Allan Gray clients, to set up a fossil fuel-free investment fund.<\/p>\n

In a letter addressed to Allan Gray, FFSA urged the company to create a \u201cfossil-free\u201d South African equity fund and divest from fossil-fuel companies \u201cas soon as possible\u201d. The letter<\/a> is part of a campaign, launched in 2021, aimed at South Africa\u2019s seven biggest investment managers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not some whacky radical demand,\u201d FFSA coordinator David Le Page said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThe petition simply echoes the stance of the United Nations whose Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has said: \u2018I call on all financial actors to abandon fossil fuel finance and invest in renewable energy.\u2019 We\u2019re just asking Allan Gray to properly align itself with best international practice,\u201d said Le Page.<\/p>\n

Allan Gray\u2019s Chief investment officer, Duncan Artus, said the establishment of a fossil-free fund was not the answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change is one of the biggest threats that faces society today \u2026 We fully support the global transition to a more environmentally sustainable society. We also recognise the role we play in being part of the solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not believe the establishment of a fossil fuel-free fund, nor divestment, is the answer. We believe that the best approach is to use our active investment strategy to tackle climate change. We engage with management and boards of investee companies on climate risks and use our influence to push for positive change and to encourage better environmental decisions and disclosure,\u201d Artus said.<\/p>\n

He said the company\u2019s approach was outlined in a climate policy statement<\/a>, available on its website<\/a>. \u201cWe report the progress we make on climate change-related engagements in our annual Stewardship Report<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDivestment from fossil-fuel companies is no panacea for climate change, but it is a vital tool in staving off deepening, unmanageable climate change at a time when every possible mitigation measure must be used\u201d, said Le Page.<\/p>\n

He said similar letters would be sent to Coronation Fund Managers, the Government Employees Pension Fund and the Public Investment Corporation, which manages the government employees\u2019 pension money, Old Mutual, Sanlam and Stanlib, as 90 or more clients of each company signed up in support.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u00a9 2022 GroundUp. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Source: GroundUp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Activists from Fossil Free South Africa, seen here at the University of Cape Town a year ago, have called on South Africa\u2019s major investment fund managers to set up a fossil-free fund. Archive photo: Marecia Damons Investment giant Allan Gray has said no to pleas by activist group Fossil Free South Africa (FFSA), on behalf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":244376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9928],"tags":[28001],"class_list":{"0":"post-244375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-groundup","8":"tag-groundup","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/investment-manager-says-no-to-plea-for-fossil-fuel-free-investment-fund.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}