Success for pension fund divestment campaign

18 May 2023

Two years ago TBI supported a campaign led by Highland Palestine aimed at persuading the council to divest ffom its pension fund's holding in the American armaments manufacturer General Dynamics - the maker of bombs which had been used by Israel in air attacks on Gaza.

In conjunction with Friends of the Earth Scotland offshoot Fossil-free Highlands the campaign was expanded to include a demand for divestment from fossil fuels and other environmentally and socially harmful products.  On 9 September 2021 Scottish Green Party councillor Pippa Hadley put a motion to a meeting of the full council calling on it to commit to  'divestment from fossil fuels, armaments and other environmentally and socially harmful products and activities as soon as possible'.

After vigorous discussion the council adopted without a vote a non-committal 'amendment' put forward by Councillor Ben Thompson, chairman of the pensions Investment sub-committee, in opposition to Councillor Hadley's motion.  This disappointing outcome was followed by the revelation in the previously unseen minutes of a meeting of the Investment Sub-committee on 12 March 2021 that a decision had already been made which would have the effect of divesting from General Dynamics, and the leaders of the campaign justifiably claimed at least partial success.

Review the background to and progress of the divestment campaign in
this archived page from our website  from September 2021

April 2023 email from Highland Palestine  confirming the success of the campaign