While Parliament has voted to declare a climate emergency, Parliament’s pension fund is still propping up fossil energy through investments in coal and gas. This must change. Yesterday I spoke in a debate calling for the fund to divest from these polluting energy sources.

Pensions are designed to look after us in our old age. But while they are invested in fossil fuels, they do the exact opposite – they jeopardise our future.

These investments increase the risk of climate change. As Parliament acknowledges, we are living in a climate emergency. Investing in fossil fuels for short-term gain is blocking progress and increasing the risks of catastrophic climate change.

On top of this, there is the financial risk. It is clear that coal, oil and gas have no long-term future, yet a 2017 carbon footprint analysis of the PCPF’s investments found that one quarter of the fund’s energy investments are in coal – the dirtiest fossil fuel. As we reduce emissions, the smart money is moving towards the renewable energy technologies of the future. Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Contributory Pension Fund may be left holding worthless investments in unburnable coal, or unusable oil refineries.

People around the world are waking up to these risks. From Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund to the University of Bristol, a growing number of organisations are divesting from dirty energy.

Investing in fossil fuels is bad for the planet, and it is now simply bad business. In my speech I urged the trustees of the PCPF to urgently change their investment strategy. In responding to the climate emergency, Parliament must get its own house in order.