TrewsNews

The Church of Ireland invests in an oil giant, the Eni group, that has announced that it is to begin drilling for fossil fuels in the Arctic. The Guardian reported on 30 September 2015 that, "Italian oil giant Eni has vowed to press ahead with oil production in the Arctic by the end of the year, undeterred by Shell’s decision to abandon its quest for Arctic oil. As environmentalists celebrated Shell’s retreat from the Chukchi Sea this week, Eni is meanwhile making final preparations to a $5.5bn (£3.6bn) project in the Norwegian Arctic . The Goliat project is set to become the world’s northernmost offshore oil field to come on stream, eventually pumping 100,000 barrels of oil per day from reserves believed to hold around 175m barrels of oil and 8bn cubic metres of gas." Investments for Church of Ireland are managed by the Representative Church Body (RCB). There are two main investment funds, the General Funds/Reserves and the Specific Trusts.  The investments page of...

The Diocese of Connor also passed a motion at its synod calling on the Representative Church Body to divest from fossil fuels. The following is an extract from an  article on the Connor website about the synod. "A Motion on Climate Change – Disinvestment by RCB prompted some debate. The motion, proposed eloquently by the Rev Canon John Budd urged the RCB to: increase investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency companies ensure there are no investments in coal companies (except those investing in carbon capture) and tar sand companies within the next year examine the possibility of disinvestment from oil companies within three years from now examine the possibility of disinvestment from natural gas companies after five years call on parishes and individuals to encourage government and political parties to act responsibly on climate change. Canon Budd said: “We will soon be taking part in Harvest Services, thanking God and making us aware of our debt to him, but al...