Oxfordshire County Council’s Pension Fund has sold £250m of its UK and emerging markets assets over ESG concerns.

According to website Room 151, the £3.15bn pension fund has reduced its exposure to the UK market and to FTSE100 companies that have links to oil, gas and mining companies by £160m. The fund has also decided to end investing in emerging markets which total £90m due to ESG concerns about China and Saudi Arabia. The total of £250m has been reallocated to the Brunel’s Sustainable Equities and Paris Aligned Benchmark portfolios.

Bob Johnston, the Pension Fund Committee’s chair, said: “We recognise the risks to investment performance associated with poor ESG considerations and are keen to ensure our investments both deliver the returns to pay the pensions of our scheme members and ensure sustainable improvements for our planet. We are happy that these changes will further de-carbonise our investments as well as increasing the investments in those areas vital to allow the world to adapt to the risks from climate change.”

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