March 24th: Street Theatre outside Brent Civic Centre as climate activists take on oil companies in tug of war over fossil fuel investments. Which side will YOU be on?

From Divest Brent

 

Roll up, roll up for the Brent Pension Fund Tug of War! Theatre, magic and music! From 4.15 to 5.30 pm, outside the Wembley Library entrance to the Civic Centre (near Sainsbury's) Friday 24th March.

 

Divest Brent is organising a street theatre 'tug-of-war' - with Brent Pension Fund being pulled between the big oil companies, who are anxious to keep their place in the Pension Fund’s portfolio, and those of us who believe that in the climate emergency the Pension Fund should not be financing climate break-down. The street theatre show, with colourful props, comedy, magic and song, will take 10 minutes and will be repeated from time to time until 5.30.

 

Organiser Simon Erskine said: 

 

More than 30 groups across Britain are expected to join the 'Divest from Crisis' day of action on Friday 24 March. Brent will join local demonstrations taking place across the UK, urging councils, pension funds, and financial institutions to take action to address the crises of fuel poverty, climate breakdown, and energy security by divesting from fossil fuels. Despite declaring a climate and ecological emergency in 2019 Brent is still estimated to have nearly £26 million* invested in planet-wrecking fossil fuels through its local government pension fund.

*SEE LINK 

In July 2019 Brent Council declared a climate and ecological emergency and committed to do all in its gift to strive for carbon neutrality by 2030.This declaration did not extend to Brent’s billion-pound Pension Fund because the Fund looks after the pensions of Council staff and support staff in schools. The Fund has, however, made some progress with investment into a low-carbon fund (albeit representing only 3% of the Fund) and a Net Zero Roadmap charting a course which should eventually lead to divestment. But global warming is indeed a climate emergency and we do not have time for the Roadmap to run its course. The Roadmap should not get in the way of a rapid divestment from the fossil fuels which are so much to blame for the emergency.

 

More information HERE:

Divest Brent calls on the Pension Sub-Committee to seize the opportunity and play its part in divesting from fossil fuels to ensure a planet habitable by humans

 

The Divest Brent delegation arrives at Brent Civic Centre

A delegation from campaign group Divest Brent made a presentation to the Brent Pension Fund Sub-Committee tonight to urge them to speed up the fund's divestment from fossil fuel copanies in the face of the climate emergency.

 

Glenis Scadding presented on behalf of the delegation and said:

 

Climate breakdown is gathering at shocking, unanticipated speed, with disasters occurring at 1.2 degrees of heating that scientists did not expect until we hit 2 or 3 degrees. If we are to save the planet from increasingly intense heatwaves, wildfires, droughts – and indeed keep it habitable by humans – we have to tackle the problem of fossil fuels NOW. 89% of CO2 emissions come from industry and from burning fossil fuels. You, the Pension Fund Sub-committee have a significant opportunity to play your part.

 

The International Energy Agency has warned that no new oil and gas exploration should take place, if we are to limit global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. Yet there are currently around 200 fossil fuel development projects, each expected to eventually emit over a billion tons of CO2. This alone would use up the entire global carbon budget and trigger runaway climate change – and ultimately, in all probability, the extinction of the entire human race.

 

 

The current high cost of fossil fuels means that projects to develop more of them, such as Jackdaw and fracking, are being given the go – ahead by Government. This is misguided short – termism since the time courses involved are too long to rescue us from our current energy plight. Much better to invest in new renewables, even Dr Chris Cornelius, the geologist who founded Cuadrilla in 2007, said recently that ministers would do better to look at geothermal energy and tidal power.

 

 

The only way to avoid the worst scenario is to reduce our fossil fuel consumption as soon as possible – and by divesting its Pension Fund from fossil fuel companies Brent Council would be doing its bit to send a signal that promotes investment into new renewable energy projects, not fossil fuels.

 

 

The primary purpose of the Pension Fund is to maximise investment returns to provide pensions to retired Council staff. Fortunately, just as the cost of renewable energy is now significantly lower than fossil fuels, so the outlook for renewable investments is much better than fossil fuels. The investment value of the fossil fuel companies are set to crash as petrol vehicles give way to electric ones (with the UK phasing out sales of new petrol vehicles by 2030) and hard economics persuades utility companies to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. Greenwashing by companies such as BP and Shell should not persuade you otherwise. Sub-committee members will not want to emulate their colleagues in local authority pension funds which lost up to £683 million in 2015 through failed investments in coal companies.

 

By divesting from fossil fuels Brent would be treading a well-worn path – 7 London boroughs have already committed to divest. The Islington Pension Fund chair has offered to talk to Sub-committee members and could answer queries.

 

We warmly welcome Brent Council’s Net zero roadmap but the measure used to identify the carbon intensity of an investee company or fund suffers from a major shortcoming: failure to consider scope 3 emissions. Fossil fuel companies are scored based on the carbon emissions of their offices, travel and power used in fuel extraction, but not on the emissions generated by burning them.

 

We do not underestimate the effort involved in Pension Fund divestment. Fossil fuel investments form part of an investment portfolio. In order to divest particular stocks and shares, the Fund will need to sell the entire holding in the investment fund in which they are held.  This is where Brent could benefit from the experience of those Boroughs that have already made the commitment to divest.

 

 

Brent Labour Party is already committed to divest – its 2022 manifesto promised to “redouble our efforts [to reach carbon neutrality] and call upon our partners to divest our Pension Fund of organisations that extract fossil fuels” All that is needed now is action.

 

 

Cllr Robert Johnson, chair of the committee, urged the delegation to hear the item updating the Council's  Net Zero Roadmap. The item is embedded below:

Brent commits to work with Brent Friends of the Earth/Divest Brent towards divesting its Pension Fund from fossil fuels

 

 

From Divest Brent/Brent Friends of the Earth

For over 3 years campaign group Divest Brent have been working to persuade the Council to divest its Pension Fund from fossil fuels. On April 6 Councillor Matt Kelcher presented the 1,400-signature petition (including 1,200 Brent residents) to the Cabinet on behalf of Divest Brent.  

 

Coming as it did immediately before the Cabinet discussed its 10-year climate strategy Councillor Kelcher’s hard-hitting presentation carried added weight. Following campaigning by Divest Brent the draft strategy, which was agreed at the meeting, included a section on the Pension Fund’s investments.

 

Responding to the presentation, Council Leader Muhammad Butt, Deputy Leader Margaret McLennan and Environment lead, Krupa Sheth all spoke positively and in particular Councillor McLennan looked forward to working with Divest Brent and Brent Friends of the Earth to take the agenda forward.

 

In 2019 the Council declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency and specifically agreed to redirect investments to renewable, sustainable and low carbon funds. Indeed some investments have been made in this area but the majority of the Pension Fund is still invested in funds which include fossil fuels.

 

Simon Erskine, Co-ordinator of Divest Brent, said “We welcome any moves by the Pension Fund to invest sustainably and to help with the transition to renewable energy – but the fact is that whatever green investments the Fund may have, while it continues to invest in fossil fuels it is part of the problem. We therefore look forward to working with the Council to develop a road-map for divestment in the short term.”

 

The presentation of the petition comes hot on the heels of a report entitled “Divesting to protect our pensions and the planet” which gave a comprehensive breakdown of the extent that UK Councils were invested in fossil fuels. 3% of Brent’s Pension Fund is thought to be invested in fossil fuels - £26 million. Compared to the £40 million invested in 2017 this looks like an improvement – until it is realised that much of the reduction is due to a fall in value of fossil fuel investments.

 

The Council has admitted that, while much of the Stock Market has suffered from Covid 19, they have lost £8 million by failing to divest from fossil fuels before the pandemic. They are not alone in this – with UK Councils having lost £2 billion altogether over the last 4 years – but £8 million is still a serious loss compared to the Pension Fund total of £800 million.

 

With the outlook for fossil fuels never worse as the electric vehicle revolution starts to kick in and governments look to move away from gas as a means of heating our homes, Pension Fund committee members could find themselves in breach of their duties to protect the value of the Fund if they do not start to move seriously towards divestment. Said Mr Erskine, “We look forward to Brent joining Lambeth, Southwark and Islington Councils (to name just a few) in committing to divest its pension fund from fossil fuels.”

 

 

Divestment from fossil fuels - Cllr Matt Kelcher: 'We should do it NOW, when we can make the biggest impact'

 

 

The presentation and discussion of the Divest petition

Cllr Matt Kelcher today presented a petition of nearly 1,400 Brent residents calling for Brent Council to divest its pension fund from fossil fuels. In the video above you can see him outline why investing in fossil fuels is bad policy, bad economics and bad politics. He said local people feel strongly about the issue in the light of the climate emergency and Brent Council should follow the lead of 9 Labour boroughs with divestment policies,. 'Not to divest makes us part of the problem and not part of the solution...We should do it NOW, when we can make the biggest impact.' 

In her response Cllr McLennan (Deputy Leader and lead for resources) offered to  work with Divest Brent and Friends of the Earth on the issue.

1,400 petitioners will call on Brent Council to divest from fossil fuels at tomorrow's Cabinet Meeting

 The start of the long-running patient campaign to persuade Brent Council to divest its pension fund from fossil fuels

 

From Divest Brent

For over 3 years campaign group Divest Brent have been working to persuade the Council to divest its Pension Fund from fossil fuels. In 2019 the Council declared a Climate and Ecological Emergency and specifically agreed to redirect investments to renewal, sustainable and low carbon funds. Indeed some investments have been made in this area but the majority of the Pension Fund is still invested in funds which include fossil fuels. 

 

Extract from the Climate Emergency Strategy

 

Simon Erskine, Co-ordinator of Divest Brent, said:

 

We welcome any moves by the Pension Fund to invest sustainably and to help with the transition to renewable energy – but the fact is that whatever green investments the Fund may have, while it continues to invest in fossil fuels it is part of the problem.

 

Having achieved nearly 1,400 signatures Divest Brent is now ready to submit its petition to the Council. On April 6 Councillor Matt Kelcher will present the petition to the Brent Cabinet on behalf of Divest Brent. Mr Erskine said:

 

We were originally going to present the petition to the full Council meeting in July but the Cabinet will be discussing the Council’s draft Climate Emergency Strategy. Following campaigning by Divest Brent the draft Strategy now includes a section on the Pension Fund’s investments – and we decided that this was the best time to submit the petition, when the Cabinet was anyway looking at the issues involved.

 

Divest Brent has written a joint letter to Councillor Krupa Sheth, Council Environment lead, with Brent Friends of the Earth, calling on the Council to divest the Pension Fund as part of the Climate Emergency Strategy.

 

The presentation of the petition comes hot on the heels of a report entitled “Divesting to protect our pensions and the planet” which gave a comprehensive breakdown of the extent that UK Councils were invested in fossil fuels. 3% of Brent’s Pension Fund is thought to be invested in fossil fuels - £26 million. Compared to the £40 million invested in 2017 this looks like an improvement – until it is realised that much of the reduction is due to a fall in value of fossil fuel investments. 

 

The Council has admitted that, while much of the Stock Market has suffered from Covid 19, they have lost £8 million by failing to divest from fossil fuels before the pandemic. They are not alone in this – with UK Councils having lost £2 billion altogether over the last 4 years – but £8 million is still a serious loss compared to the Pension Fund total of £800 million.

 

With the outlook for fossil fuels never worse as the electric vehicle revolution starts to kick in and governments look to move away from gas as a means of heating our homes, Pension Fund committee members could find themselves in breach of their duties to protect the value of the Fund if they do not start to move seriously towards divestment.

 

Watch the Cabinet meeting and hear the Council's response live at 10am tomorrow LINK

Climate Emergency a focus at Tuesday's Cabinet meeting

There are three items at Tuesday's 10am Cabinet meeting relating to the Climate Emergency. (The meeting can be viewed live HERE).

In an unusual move the campaign group Divest Brent is presenting a petition calling on the Brent Council Pension Fund to divest from fossil fuels.

The Cabinet  will also be considering the approval of the Brent Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy 2021-2030 that has gone through some changes as the result of consultation and submissions.

Unfortunately the Strategy does not include specific targets and milestones. The Council explain:

Due to the long-term nature of the Climate and Ecological Emergency Strategy the current financial situation facing all councils following the Covid-19 pandemic the detailed document does not contain a detailed action plan or route map for the next ten years.

The overall aim is to achieve carbon netrality by 2030. Readers unsure of the difference between carbon neutrality and zero carbon can read more HERE.

The Strategy is arranged around 5 themes:

1. Consumption, Resources and Waste

2. Transport

3. Homes, Buildings and the Built Environment

4. Nature and Green Spaces

5. Supporting Communities

I have embedded the document below (Click bottom right to enlarge)

 

The third item is a £3.234 grant to improve the energy efficiency of some Brent Council owned buildings. The grant is fro  the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme managed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. I was struck by how many of the buildings chosen are comparatively new or recently refurbished.

 

The officers' report provides examples of decarbonisation measures for 10 of the buildings:

 

Brent Pension Fund loses £8m from failure to divest from fossil fuels - but others fare worse and the Council is making progress

 

Simon Erskine campaigning outside City Hall

Divest Brent, the campaign calling on the Council to sell their holdings in fossil fuel companies like Shell, BP and ExxonMobil, received a boost after submitting a Freedom of Information request to the Council. In responding to this request the Council admitted that over the last year the Pension Fund was worth £8 million less as a result of not having divested the Fund from fossil fuel investments before the Covid pandemic. The Council is actually doing significantly better than many authorities – over the last 4 years local authority pension funds have lost £2 billion of value in fossil fuel stocks. 

 

Up until now the leading argument against divestment had been the consistently high returns from these investments. Divest Brent Co-ordinator, Simon Erskine, said that historically it was true that fossil fuel companies had been a key part of any pension fund – and indeed any investment portfolio – due to the high level of returns:

 

The world has moved on and now not only do many people think that it is inappropriate to lend support, through investment, to fossil fuel companies but the entire economic situation has changed, with plunging share values. If we are to meet the net zero by 2050 target (i.e. reduce carbon emissions by 2050 so that they are no more than the amount absorbed by planting trees and other means) we have to make dramatic reductions in the amount of fossil fuels that we burn – and ultimately stop burning them altogether. 

 

If governments fail in their duty to bring about those cuts through legislation then fossil fuel companies are also facing a world where electric vehicles are rapidly catching up with, and set to overtake, petrol and diesel vehicles; and where renewable and nuclear energy are rapidly taking over from fossil fuels as the main generators of electricity.

 

In the meantime Divest Brent has been increasing its support base through its petition, which now boasts nearly 1,400 signatories – including well over 1,100 Brent residents. 

 

Simon Erskine praised the action taken by the Council to date:

 

Not only has the Council changed its investment policy by recognising the risks of fossil fuel investments but it has also made a specifically low carbon investment as part of its Stock Market holdings – as well as making investments in renewable energy as part of its loan-stock holdings. We warmly welcome these developments – but the low carbon investment represents only 3% of the Pension Fund’s total investments. 

 

The Council has suggested that more money could be invested in the low carbon fund but there is no commitment to do so, despite it having committed to divest as part of its resolution last year to declare a climate and ecological emergency. It is not only Divest Brent that is looking for the Council to divest – more than half of the Councillors want the same thing.

 

Divest Brent is working with sympathetic councillors and is hopeful that, with the Council currently consulting on its ambitious Climate Emergency Strategy, divestment will be seen as a key part of that strategy.

 

Brent environmental groups launch petition: We Need Brent to Build Back Better Now!

Brent associations campaigning for active travel and environmental health have launched a petition outlining how the Council Leader and his Cabinet can ensure Brent Builds Back Better as lockdown eases:

We Need Brent to Build Back Better Now

Having declared a Climate Emergency last July, we have to move with a greater sense of urgency to promote active travel, a healthy environment and clean air in our Borough. We have the largest number of Covid-19 cases in London, reflecting health inequalities across income, ethnicity and race directly related to air pollution and passive travel, as well as poor employment conditions and overcrowded housing. Government-enforced austerity and legacies of racial and economic injustice are largely responsible for this situation, but Brent Council has the opportunity Build Back Better by:

·         Immediately implementing the Borough’s Cycle and Walking Strategies via pop-up cycle lanes and cycle-friendly modal filters.

·         Accelerating the implementation of the ‘Healthy Streets’ initiative between Wembley and Willesden Junction, and pro-actively implement low-traffic neighbourhoods.

·          A faster roll-out of more School Streets across the Borough to improve air quality around schools, make them safer and encourage cycling and walking to and from schools as these re-open.

·          Developing a plan to decarbonise the Borough by creating new, well-paid, secure, unionised jobs; divesting the Council’s pension fund from fossil fuel companies; creating a policy of public procurement; enforcing a rapid transition of the Council’s own fleet of vehicles to electric; and requiring Council deliveries to be by electric vehicles or cycles, including cargo-bikes.

·         Putting in place Clean Air Zones, charging where necessary.

·         Multiplying the provision of cycle hoops and bike hangers, at the same pace, if not faster, as on-street electric charging points.

·         Reallocating parking space to people, particularly around commercial streets, since cyclist and pedestrians have been shown to spend more on local High Streets.

Many of these measures can be delivered immediately and most rapidly if the Leader and Cabinet show the political will, and match best practice across London.

We need to Build Back Better now.

Brent Cycling Campaign, Brent Friends of the Earth, Divest Brent, Willesden Green Residents' Association, Brent XR

SIGN HERE

Is Brent getting any closer to fulfilling its fossil fuel divestment pledge?

Cllr Shafique Choudhary, in a highly unusual contribution to the Allowances section of the Full Council agenda last Wednesday, made the case that the complexity, workload and responsibility - with the added issue of climate change, meant that the Chair of the Pensions Sub-Committee deserved a substantial additional allowance. 

Cllr Choudhary spoke about the role in the third person without mentioning that he is the Chair of that sub-committee. LINK

Certainly last night's meeting of the committee had a very heavy, complex and technical agenda and would have required a considerable amount of homework.  The committee had pre-meeting training on a range of subjects including the welcome addition of climate change, which made a very long evening for members and officers.

I was there as a member of Divest Brent, a cross-party and non-party group that want Brent to divest its pension fund from fossil fuels. This is a manifesto commitment of Brent Labour Party supported by more than 1,000 petition signatories and Brent NEU which represents support workers in schools who are members of the Pension Fund, among a range of other civil society groups. Divestment is made all the more relevant and urgent following the Council's declaration of a Climate Emergency.

Despite this, although there were warm words at the meeting about the need to take account of climate change it did not seem to move much closer to outright divestment. Although not included in any specfic recommendation adopted by the committee, there was support for 'engagement' with fossil fuels companies and car manufacturers as exemplified by a presention by LAPFF. LAPFF prioritise climate change and are part of Climate Action 100+

They think that engagement is preferable to divestment and although they would not try and stop clients from divesting would not recommend it.  - a view considered  by Simon Erskine in his presentation (see below). Instead the focus was on investing in low-carbon funds as part of the Fund's portfolio.

The committee agreed the following recommendations:

The Committee should discuss and agree the investment strategy review undertaken by the Fund’s investment advisors, Hymans Robertson, available in Appendix 1.

The following proposals should be taken into consideration:

·That the committee’s current investment beliefs are fit for purpose but expands on its Responsible Investment beliefs in light of the increased focus on, and importance of, this area.

·The current long term strategy is fit for purpose from a returns perspective as it is expected to return in excess of the required return.

·To introduce a global low carbon mandate as part of the Fund’s equity allocation and to delegate authority to the Director of Finance to agree the size and fund in question and to put into effect this investment following discussions at the committee meeting.

·The Fund’s actual investment arrangements will deviate from their target over time and therefore a degree of rebalancing should take place on a regular basis to try and prevent too much deviation from the desired strategic allocation.

Simon Erskine's presentation on behalf of Divest Brent:

Click bottom right for full page:

 

Simon had certainly done his homework but his recommendations were not addressed by the committee. Perhaps they could be on the agenda of the next meeting.

Why Brent should divest its pension fund from fossil fuels

These are notes of the presentation made by Simon Erskine, of the Divest Brent campaign to the Council's Pension Sub-Committee. The comments in small print are there to assist - they were not delivered as part of the presentation.:

1.       INTRODUCTION 

Many thanks for this opportunity to comment, on behalf of Divest Brent, on the Council’s paper on Responsible Investment, with particular reference to climate change. 

2.       COMMENTS ON PROPOSED ACTION: 

In principle we welcome the analysis of the carbon footprint of the Pension Fund portfolio proposed in the Responsible investment paper but have two concerns about this:

·         Firstly there is a danger that this analysis will simply delay any action on protecting the Fund from the inherent risk of fossil fuel investment at a time of transition to a low carbon economy. We think it is therefore crucial that any proposed action should be time-limited – with the shortest possible time-scale.

·         Secondly it needs to be followed up with concrete action. I will argue that engagement is not enough – and the analysis should be a precursor to deciding how best to divest from the investments with the highest carbon footprint.

3.       ENGAGEMENT ISN’T WORKING: 

·         The Council’s policy of “engaging” with fossil fuel companies isn’t working. It has no meaningful benchmarks or timelines, little to show in the way of achievements and no clear escalation strategies for companies that fail to respond.

·         Despite many years of “engagement” not a single major oil company has re-aligned its business model with a 2ºC world. Moreover, there are no precedents for a company changing its core business model following pressure from shareholders.

·         We can provide a more detailed briefing on why engagement does not work for fossil fuel companies.  

4.       OTHER LONDON BOROUGHS WHICH ARE DIVESTING: 

There was talk in the paper of fiduciary duty and the policy of engagement with its fund managers rather than a policy of exclusion or divestment. With regard to climate change, this does not reflect the law or pension regulations as is clear from the number of London Boroughs that have already made a firm commitment to divestment – their pension officers will be as familiar with LGPS and pension fund rules as those in Brent. 

·         Lambeth

·         Southwark

·         Islington

·         Hackney

·         and Tower Hamlets

have all committed to fully divest – a number of other Councils have made partial commitments. All the Councils mentioned have started to divest their funds except for Lambeth which is waiting for the CIV to introduce suitable fossil-free funds to which it can transfer its investments.

5.       POLITICAL BACKGROUND

We understand that the Committee’s main priority is to protect the financial security of the Pension Fund. But particularly given that all the indications are that fossil fuel investments do not provide that security, as I will discuss shortly, I was disappointed that a paper largely about the Pension Fund and climate change should be completely silent on 3 points:

1.       The Council’s 2018 manifesto commitment to divest. (“At every opportunity, redirect our investments into renewable energy projects and carbon-free or carbon neutral technologies” – although this is perhaps ambiguous, Deputy Leader Cllr McLennan confirmed in an email to me of 18.9.18 “we have Divestment as a Manifesto Pledge and we intend to meet all our pledges”)

2.       The recent declaration by the full Council of a Climate and Ecological Emergency which re-iterated this commitment.

3.       Divest Brent has so far amassed well over 1,000 signatures in favour of divestment including those of the Leader of the Council, the Environment Lead and numerous other councillors.

6.       FINANCIAL RISK

As mentioned earlier, we understand that the Committee’s principal concern, quite rightly, is to safeguard the financial security of the Pension Fund in order to protect the pensions of Council staff. The Responsible Investment paper suggests that this means that the Fund should continue to hold on to fossil fuel investments. Our view is the opposite. There are plenty of recent indications that fossil fuel investments have become too risky to safely hold – not only because of the danger of action by governments to reduce burning fossil fuels but also the exponential increase in electric vehicles and renewable energy will seriously impact the market for them. I can provide plenty of evidence for this but time only allows one example now: The Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has warned that investors face 'potentially huge' losses from climate change action that could make vast reserves of oil, coal and gas 'literally unburnable'. [East Sussex Briefing for Council on divestment]

7.       CONCLUSION  

In conclusion

·         The Sub-committee should urgently explore, working with other boroughs which have already made a firm commitment to divest, how to set about divesting the Pension Fund for the following reasons:

1.       As I have indicated, the Council’s current preferred option of engagement simply does not work in the context of fossil fuel companies.

2.       There is a body of legal opinion that considers trustees are at risk of being found in breach of their fiduciary duties by notdivesting when the financial risks are clear.

3.       The Council is committed to divestment and, as discussed, this will, if anything, improve the risk-adjusted financial position. The CIV currently has no appropriate funds which can deliver divestment but all the indications are that they are prioritising work to offer such funds so that they can meet the requirements of the boroughs which have already committed to divest as well as the significant number of boroughs which are considering divestment. 

·         While the Council is waiting for appropriate CIV funds to which existing funds can be moved, it should carry out the analysis suggested in the Responsible Investment paper – but an early agreed deadline should be set to ensure that it does not unduly hold back on divestment.

·         In the meantime, if the Council wishes to continue its policy of engagement, pending full divestment, it should set agreed goals for this engagement, as well as deadlines for the action required.