◆ CLIMATE EMERGENCY
Stop supercharging climate change NTEU National Council in 2019 passed a resolution calling on UniSuper – the superannuation fund for workers in the higher education sector – to ‘urgently prepare a ten-year plan to transition all invested funds to be fully carbon neutral by 2030’. In 2020, NTEU will be campaigning in earnest for UniSuper to divest from fossil fuels and provide greater transparency on the fund’s investments, both direct and indirect. By calling on UniSuper to divest from fossil fuels, the NTEU seeks to ensure that the retirement savings of its members are not being used to underwrite a future dominated by catastrophic global heating. By successfully targeting UniSuper, members can be satisfied that they are influencing not only the conduct of their own super fund but of other market players in Australia and internationally. UniSuper is the fifth largest superannuation fund in Australia with a portfolio worth over $80 billion. Investment decisions by UniSuper ripple throughout the broader economy. UniSuper is no innocent when it comes to investing in fossil fuels. Among the major holdings it discloses are large fossil fuel companies such as BHP, Woodside Petroleum, Santos, APA, Enbridge Inc, and TL Energy – many of whom are actively undermining the climate goals of the Paris Agreement.
In November 2018, UniSuper joined the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) which has over 1,000 member organisations with a combined market capitalisation of $12 trillion. The TCFD’s stated aim is for companies to issue ‘decision-useful’ disclosures, such as greenhouse gas emissions associated with investments, and outline strategies for reducing exposure to climate risks such as to reach ‘net zero’ by 2050. UniSuper’s 2019 Climate Risk Management and Investments at UniSuper report, however, does not appear to provide detail at the level required by the TCFD. For example, a substantial proportion of UniSuper funds are managed ‘externally’ by investment managers and it is unclear whether UniSuper reveals the degree of climate-risk exposure these funds represent. As members, it is vitally important that we have access to the information required to genuinely assess the impact of our super fund and its various investment products. UniSuper has an increasingly urgent obligation to improve in this regard. Super funds are obliged to make decisions in the best financial interests of their members. Many have argued that fossil fuel divestment is an environmental, rather than a financial, matter. Yet, as the economic impacts of global heating become more recognised, this argument is increasingly tenuous. In February 2020, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor, Philip Lowe, warned of investors being left with ‘stranded assets’
Unfortunately, it is not possible to get a full picture of the extent of UniSuper’s integration with the fossil fuel industry because of its opaque reporting. UniSuper only discloses its top 20 Australian and top 20 international shareholdings. It does not fully disclose the extent of indirect investment in fossil fuels. Members should and do expect better.
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because of climate change and recent events illustrate that this is certainly a major risk. Last year, Norway’s trillion-dollar Government Pension Fund Global – the world’s largest wealth fund – announced a plan to sell off stakes in oil and gas exploration and production to reduce vulnerability to fossil fuel prices and to invest in renewable energy infrastructure projects and companies. Blackrock, the world’s biggest asset manager, announced in 2019 that it would 'put climate change at the centre of its investment strategy' and divest from coal. What this tells us is that the NTEU’s divestment campaign is both environmentally and financially sustainable. It seeks to protect the retirement incomes of its members and ensure that our superannuation fund is driving the changes that are needed to safeguard all of our futures. In the coming months, NTEU members will be called on to take action to combat fossil fuel driven global heating. Keeping our superannuation fund honest is one very meaningful and practical way that higher education workers can play an important role in de-carbonising the economy and transitioning to a sustainable future. ◆ Damien Cahill, NSW Division Assistant Secretary and Vince Caughley, UTS Branch President Find out more at divestunisuper.nteu.org.au
