The fund has been nominated for the Investment Innovation Award for its ‘net-zero’ portfolio reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Barnet Council's Colindale office — Barnet Council’s Colindale office

Barnet’s pension fund has been nominated for two awards after a turnaround saw the fund go from investing millions in fossil fuel companies to being recognised as a “leading voice” on climate-related investment.

The council’s pension fund has been nominated for the Investment Innovation Award at the Local Authority Pension Fund Awards 2024 for its development of a ‘net-zero’ portfolio.

The fund has also been nominated for ‘Local Government Pension Scheme Fund of the Year’ and the council will also take on a leadership role among other London local authorities around climate-related investing.

The news comes after an investigation by Friends of the Earth and Platform London carried out in 2023 found around £35.2million of the fund was invested in fossil fuel companies in the 2021/22 financial year.

In response, the chair of the pension fund committee, councillor Simon Radford, said at the time findings were “welcome” and instead of divesting from fossil fuel companies the council had embarked on a “more ambitious path”.

This involved transitioning the “entire portfolio” with a goal of “achieving net zero while still securing the funds needed to pay pensions”.

In terms of this target the council has made good on its promise.

Responding to the news of the nominations, Cllr Radford said the “incredible progress” had been made over the last few years.

He named officers from the council’s pension fund team led by David Spreckley, and supported by Mark Fox and Adam McPhail as key reasons behind the shift.

Cllr Radford said: “Win or lose, being shortlisted is a tremendous endorsement of a lot of hard, painstaking work.”

Council leader Barry Rawlings said: “Careful financial management, much greater transparency with the fund’s beneficiaries, and responsibility for our wider social impact embodies the approach of Barnet Council as a whole.

“I warmly congratulate the team for this great achievement”.

Simon Radford, chair of the pension committee, said: “Since Labour took charge of the council in 2022, the pension committee has committed to maximising the risk-adjusted return for the portfolio, but making sure it is within the environmental limits of our planet.

“We’ve set out a model portfolio to chart a course towards net zero, led a seed investor group within the London pool of pension funds to pioneer new investments in nature-based solutions, and pivoted Barnet’s equity investments towards being aligned with the Paris Agreement on climate emissions.

“I am pleased that Barnet has moved from laggard to leader on pension investing while being innovative about how we can better care for our planet at the same time.”

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