Climate activists with Extinction Rebellion Ireland (XRI) conducted a short, silent protest in Blackrock Village Centre in the pre-show leadup to a Zurich-sponsored dramatised adaptation of James Joyce’s Ulysses.
A few minutes before the start of the play, some activists began handing out leaflets to the people assembled, while others faced the crowd, silently holding up a banner, early 1900’s-style placards and XRI flags.
The banner read “Divest our Pensions from Fossil Fuels” and the placards included quotes from Ulysses.
One placard read “Zurich, where’s your ‘Agenbite of inwit'” (meaning “remorse of conscience”) referring to Zurich’s part in driving climate disasters by funneling large amounts of Irish pension-holders’ savings into the fossil fuel companies responsible for global warming.
As they left the shopping centre escorted by security, before the play started, they broke into a chant of “Zurich, you have got to see, pensions should be fossil free”.
According to sustainability disclosure documents 8.8% of Zurich’s pension fund assets are invested in the fossil fuel industry – more than any other major pension provider in Ireland.
Zurich does not offer any fossil-free pension options to its pension holders, most of whom are trapped in a company scheme and can’t switch to another provider that offers sustainable options.
Recent analysis by the Business Post revealed that Ireland’s main private pension providers have at least €9 billion invested in the fossil fuel sector.
To meet the Paris Agreement target of limiting warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, nearly 60% of our existing oil & gas reserves and 90% of coal reserves must remain in the ground.
Yet Irish pensions are heavily invested in companies like Shell and Chevron that are actively exploring for new fossil fuel reserves.
One of the activists, Moyna Staunton, a retired school principal and grandmother, said “It’s outrageous that Zurich Life continues to invest our pension funds in fossil fuels this far into the climate crisis.
“With this kind of lack of corporate responsibility, is it any wonder that we now only have a 1% chance of keeping warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels?
“We’re facing such a bleak future if we don’t slash greenhouse gas emissions and it’s our kids, grandkids and future generations who are going to have the worst of it.
“It makes me furious that companies like Zurich are actively making that future worse.
“That’s why I felt compelled to be here as part of this protest today demanding Zurich divests from fossil fuels.”
Fossil fuel companies have engaged in a massive, decades-long campaign to promote doubt & misinformation about climate change and to block climate action both in Ireland and globally.
They’re doing this in the service of their shareholders, mostly institutional investors like Zurich.
Ireland’s main private pension providers are Zurich Life, Irish Life, New Ireland, Aviva and Standard Life, making up about 95% of the market.
In February, Extinction Rebellion Ireland crashed the Irish Association of Pension Funds annual black-tie dinner in Dublin 4, catching the organizers off-guard as pre-dinner speeches were interrupted by the activists demanding that Irish pension providers divest their funds from fossil fuels.
XRI activist, Angela Deegan, a retired I.T. worker from Drumcondra said, “Extinction Rebellion Ireland believes strongly in the power and importance of art and we use the arts ourselves to creatively communicate the crisis we’re in and to demand action.
“Where we have an issue is with sponsorship of arts events by companies that have terrible practices.
“It’s great to see this play celebrating Joyce’s masterpiece.
“What’s bad is that it’s sponsored by Zurich – a company that pumps vast sums of money into climate destruction, and then spends relatively tiny amounts supporting the arts to rehabilitate their image.”
Moyna Staunton added, “We have to put loads of pressure on Zurich to divest from fossil fuels. It appears that seeing the devastating effects of global warming play out across the world and indeed here in Ireland is not enough to make them do the right thing.
“I’d urge anyone who has any business with Zurich or who works for them to speak up and pressure them to divest from fossil fuels.”
In company pension schemes, a significant amount of power to effect change is held by a small number of people – namely employers and their pension providers.
Activist Sean Loughran, a father of three from North County Dublin who has invested in a company pension for 35 years, said, “I feel like I have no control over where my hard-earned money is going.
“I have a pension because I want to ensure financial stability in my future, but a pension scheme that invests in climate breakdown feels like a contradiction.
“I want a pension for my future, not against it”.
According to the latest Central Bank Climate Observatory report, which assesses how climate-related risks and climate policies affect the economy and financial system, the CO2 intensity of insurance corporations and pension funds resident in Ireland (194 tonnes per million euros) is 20% higher than the euro area average (162 tonnes).
Moving Irish pension funds away from fossil fuels would allow pension-holders to have a real impact on the climate crisis.
Choosing a climate friendly pension has 21 times the combined effect of giving up flying, switching energy providers and becoming vegetarian according to the UK not-for-profit campaign group Make My Money Matter.
The greenwashing of pension plans has made it more difficult for workers and employers to make more sustainable investments.
According to the European Union’s own insurance and occupational pensions regulator, over six in ten EU consumers don’t trust the sustainability claims of the pensions industry, or believe they are misleading.
Ireland’s national pension reserve fund was completely divested from fossil fuels following the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act 2018 but this did not impact private-sector pensions.
The 2019 Climate Action Plan, in response to the Paris Agreement, created Action 12 to consider how to require pension providers like Zurich “to provide an option to pension-holders to opt for a fund which does not include fossil fuel”.
However, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection quietly dropped the proposal and it was never implemented.
Traditional investing often disregards the side effects of its funds in the name of maximising profits, when in fact, there is evidence of sustainable funds outperforming traditional ones.