CLIMATE change campaigners caused a Surrey council meeting to adjourn as part of their protest against the investment of pension money into the oil industry.

The Surrey Pension Fund (SPF) committee meeting at Surrey County Hall on Friday (June 7) had to be called to a halt for several minutes as campaigners walked around the room scattering flower petals and singing.

They also distributed posters and leaflets as members of the committee, including councillors, officers and pension fund managers, walked out of the room.

The meeting, held in the Ashcombe Suite of County Hall, resumed about 20 minutes later after the protesters had left the building.

Councillors carried on discussing pension funds with scatterings of petals around them.

The meeting had started with a series of questions submitted earlier asking about SPF’s investments into companies which use or promote fossil fuels.

Questions came from Surrey residents, campaigners and members of Extinction Rebellion Godalming and Farnham.

Resident Stephen McDonald asked when SPF would remove investment from the fossil fuel industry.

And Kathy Higham asked how much is invested in renewable energy and ethical organisations.

According to papers at the meeting, 8.9 per cent of SPF’s total fund value is invested in low carbon and infrastructure.

Chris Neill from Extinction Rebellion Godalming said he was appalled £145m was invested directly into the fossil fuel industry.

He asked the committee to “take urgent and immediate steps to divest this very large sum of money from the fossil fuel industry and to invest it instead in infrastructure and renewable energy”.

The last question was posed by ten-year-old Melie Foussat from Godalming, with her comments repeated by the dozens of protesters around her asking what the committee was going to do to secure her future. The campaigners then started to sing and walk around the room scattering the petals.

SPF is one of 58 investors who have co-filed the Climate Change Action 100+ shareholder resolution at BP – directing the oil giant to adopt a strategy in line with the Paris Agreement along with annual progress reporting.