Richmond Fund Invests In Green Project
The Council's pension fund is investing in the UK's ground source heat pump industry. They want to reduce investment in fossil fuels and support green energy.
The Chair of the Council's Environment, Sustainability, Culture and Sports Committee is Councillor Julia Neden-Watts.
In 2019, we said there's a climate emergency. We said we'd become a carbon neutral group by 2030. We're checking everything the Council does. We said we'd take care of our investments, too. Two years ago, we made a plan to make our investments carbon-free.
The UK needs ground source heat pumps to secure sustainable energy. They can help us cut our use of gas and emissions. It's great that we are helping the industry.
The pension fund said they would invest up to £80m in two energy transition funds last year. The funds are for non-traditional renewable projects like battery storage and green hydrogen. They want to invest in projects that reduce carbon.
The Octopus Energy Transition Fund got money from pension funds. They used £70m of that money to invest in Kensa Group. Kensa Group makes ground source heat pumps. These pumps help to get rid of gas boilers, which pollute the environment. The Octopus Energy Transition Fund wants to use eco-friendly heat pumps instead.
Kensa got an investment. They will use it to grow fast. They will install 50,000 ground source heat pumps per year. It will be done in 2030. This plan will make heat pumps cheaper. It will also stop people using gas boilers. The investment will make 7,000 jobs in 2030.
Octopus Energy Generation CEO, Zoisa North-Bond, stated:
Heat pumps are a great replacement for gas boilers and can save people money. Kensa needs money to expand the heat pump economy in the UK. Investing in Kensa will help grow the clean energy sector.
The Pension Fund's worth is £2.7bn. It aims to have net-zero emissions by 2050. By 2030, it wants to have reduced emissions by 60%.
Richmond and Wandsworth Councils have collaborated to create a joint pension fund. They did this after deciding to merge their employees into a shared staffing arrangement. This means there is only one workforce serving both councils. To support the fund, employees contribute more than 7% of their salaries into it.
