Methodist Church shakes up portfolio to cut carbon emissions

The investment arm of the Methodist Church has announced plans to make its investment portfolios more reflective of the Church’s teachings on the environment.

The Central Finance Board said it would create and manage portfolios with a “relatively low and measurably declining” carbon footprint.

The board’s Chief Executive Bill Seddon said the new policy would encourage companies to limit and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The board already asks companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions.

“We will also look for better disclosure of emissions, including those produced from a company’s supply chains,” Mr Seddon said. “We are now looking for action to accelerate the reduction of those emissions.”

The announcement follows the publication earlier in the year of the Methodist Church report ‘Hope in God’s Future’, which called upon member churches to act urgently in order to reduce carbon emissions across the whole of Church life in line with the national goal of 80 per cent cuts by 2050.

Steve Hucklesby, Methodist Church policy adviser, welcomed the board’s plans.

“Climate change threatens to cause irreversible damage to the planet’s eco-system causing suffering to millions of people over the coming decades,” he said.

“It is vital that governments commit to massively reducing greenhouse gas emissions at the Copenhagen Summit, but we should not just leave it to them. We can all play a part and companies also have a responsibility to act.

“With this policy, the Church will also be making its voice heard in boardrooms.”

Mr Seddon added: “We know we will not always get it right but the Methodist Church will always seek to act as a responsible investor.”