UK councils remain avid tobacco investors: Report
Regional councils across the United Kingdom have broadly invested in the tobacco industry over the past years despite their commitments to improve health and welfare standards in their communities, according to a report.
The report published on the website of the Guardian newspaper on Monday revealed that healthcare providers, fire authorities and schools in Britain had directly invested more than £1.7 billion in tobacco company stocks through council pension funds.
The report said the retirement schemes had also pooled a further £1.1 billion into those industries via larger funds that group together the investors.
The main tobacco companies that received the investment were British American Tobacco, Imperial Brands and Philip Morris.
The West Yorkshire Pension Fund was the largest direct investor in tobacco among councils with £284 million held in major purveyors of cigarettes. The Guardian report said the huge investment came despite the above-average levels of smoking-related mortality in the region’s biggest cities of Bradford and Leeds.
Liverpool, with one of the highest levels of smoking-attributable deaths, was also among the avid tobacco investors. The council of the region has some £64 million of holdings in the industry with a smoking death rate of 442 per 100,000 population.
The investment comes despite repeated calls for a switch to other industries which can pose no harm to the public.
“There are other companies within the consumer staples [sector] that are performing really well that you can replace tobacco with,” said Helena Viñes Fiestas, the head of sustainability at BNP Paribas Asset Management, adding that the pension funds investment in tobacco has helped firms survive amid a recent downturn in fortunes.
Councils have defended their investments in tobacco, saying their pension trustees have a legal obligation to maximize retirement income.
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