Emphasises a commitment to peace over arms, and progress through renewable energy and community empowerment.
Time to Divest Forth Valley has been writing and campaigning to demand the divestment of funds of the Falkirk Pension Fund* from companies that invest in genocide. Asset listings from March 2025 can be found here. These include Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, BP and many more companies that are on the Boycott, Divest & Sanction list.
* Known as the Falkirk Pension Fund, the scheme Members include people who work for:
You can help and support our campaign by adding your name to a petition for the Fund to divest public money via this online form.
Total invested in arms to ‘Israel’: £28.2m
Total Invested in fossil fuels: 32.9m
I am very concerned about the Falkirk Pension Fund investing in arms! The lack of empathy is appalling. How can we make money from destruction and death? Why can they not invest in progressive companies that enhance life rather than destroy it? What if those arms were meant to destroy our livelihoods? Would they invest then? Is it that only some lives matter but for others, our profits are more important?
The Fund should divest immediately to stop supporting the death and destruction of people in other lands. In particular, we should not risk being complicit in the breaking of international law by aiding a genocide. Regarding fossil fuels: We only have one planet. Why are we adding to its destruction for a short-term gain? It’s ironic that the pension fund supports causes that will leave our next generation with a worse off than the earth. There was a recent report in the Guardian that stated that the C02 omissions since Oct 7th on that tiny strip of overpopulated land- which is the same distance as Falkirk to Edinburgh- is more than Costa Rica & Estonia combined in 2023. Both of these causes are linked. People need to educate themselves about the $2bn worth of gas that was discovered not long before this all kicked off in Gaza waters, and BP’s involvement in contracts to explore gas & oil in that area.
We have stood outside the pension meetings outside the council office in Grangemouth twice, with an opportunity to deliver a deputation in the last meeting. The recording of that is available online on the Pension Committee’s YouTube channel. We have written to the Fund several times asking them to take action. All we receive in response are delays to the supposed action that they need to decide on taking and about making a report in order to commission a report about how to divest if they can. It’s all words and delays while every day we see mutilated or skeletal bodies of children, women and men fleeing the bombs that we are profiting from.
Would you be this slow had Scotland been in their situation? If you went without food and aid under bombs for 3 months, would you then take decisive action? What will it take for you to be human enough and take action against crimes against humanity and the earth?
I implore listeners to make their concerns heard by emailing the pension committee and demanding that they invest ethically and responsibly, with humanity. They can email FVpalestinesolidarity@gmail.com if they would like to join our mailing list.
Spoken by Sofia on behalf of the Forth Valley TtD group
The Falkirk Pension Fund continues to come under fire from local divestment activists.
The board and committee of the Falkirk pension fund originally faced criticism about the fund’s investments in major arms companies. The companies, outlined by divestment campaign Time to Divest Forth Valley, include: BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics. Time to Divest Forth Valley is part of the wider national Time to Divest campaign. Campaigns are active in other areas around Scotland, including Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders.
All of the aforementioned companies have been found to manufacture for and provide arms to Israel.
The Pension Fund, administered by Falkirk Council, holds investment funds worth £3.6 billion for more than thirty public bodies across Scotland.
More recently, the Forth Valley group expressed discontentment with the way a commissioned report deadline had been handled. The report had been commissioned by the pension fund board in response to pressure to divest from arms. The contents of the report, according to the board, would look at the financial viability of divestment.
Erin Smith, a university student and a campaigner with Time to Divest stated:
“In June last year the pension fund agreed to commission a report to consider their statement of investment principles which was due to be ready for the November meeting, in November, they informed us this report would not be ready to be considered until March. In the March meeting they considered this report and made the conclusion to commission another report for June. We have now just been informed that this report will also not be ready for the June meeting.
“While the Falkirk pension fund drags its feet and fails to deliver on actions agreed at pension fund meetings the arms companies they are currently investing 28.2 million in continue to arm the Israeli state and enable crimes against humanity.”
The amount the Falkirk Pension Fund are currently investing into arms and fossil fuels stands at around 61.1 million pounds. Time to Divest Forth Valley has urged the pension fund to move away from such investments. Moreover, the group emphasises the importance of adopting a more robust Statement of Responsible Investment.
As of now, despite continuous pressure from activists, the commissioned report regarding divestment still hangs in the balance.
Feature Image Credit: Time to Divest Forth Valley
Pension Divestment protest, June, 2025
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