BT in ‘ethical’ coal hole shocker
Some interesting news about the tangle of money behind Ffos-y-Fran opencast mine in Merthyr has come our way via Friends of the Earth Wales, and was picked up today by the Guardian:
Digging an ethical hole
The giant Ffos-y-Fran opencast mine outside Merthyr Tydfil will contribute more to climate change emissions than any other mine in Britain over the next few years. But property development group Argent, which is one half of the joint venture, prefers to talk about how green its buildings are. “We are trying to deliver lower energy, greener buildings in the right locations,” it says. What Argent does not say, but which has been dug out by a rather shocked Friends of the Earth Swansea, is that Argent is wholly owned by BT’s pension fund, which was voted Britain’s top ethical pension fund last year.
‘Ethical’ doesn’t seem to square with Ffos-y-Fran - a 200 metre hole in the ground which will produce enough coal to release over 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, driving climate change which will impact overwhelmingly on the poorest people in the World.
The BT Pension Scheme seems very proud of it’s ethical reputation, stating on their website:
Social, ethical, environmental and governance issues are key areas of corporate and policy engagement for BTPS…
Well, er, great!
If you think BTPS being a top-rated ethical pension fund might not ‘fit’ with BTPS wholly owning Argent Plc, one half of Miller-Argent, South Wales opencast coal producers, perhaps it would be worth emailing c.symonds@hermes.co.uk - the BT Pensions Secretariat, to get their take on it.
And if you get a reply, why not forward it to us? info@thecoalhole.org
(Thanks to Neil for the pointer.)
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