A National Trust attraction in the north of England National Trust Images/John Millar

The National Trust will sell all the fossil fuel assets it holds in its £1bn investments, saying it no longer wants to be invested in companies that are not doing their part to tackle climate change.

The conservation group has around £45m invested in fossil fuel companies including BP, Shell and Total, and expects to have divested most of that in the next year, and entirely within three years.“We understand that action doesn’t happen overnight,” says Peter Vermeulen, the charity’s chief financial officer. “But three years on from the Paris climate deal, we are still not seeing evidence of fossil fuel companies putting enough capital in low carbon investments.”

The move will serve as a stinging criticism of companies such as Shell, which has touted the fact it spends up to $2bn of its annual $25bn capital investment on low carbon technology as a sign it is taking clean energy seriously.


Vermeulen pointed to research that shows major oil companies are on average spending just one per cent of capital expenditure on low carbon investments. “If you’re going to be a relevant player in 10 years time, it needs to be the other way around.”

Green investment

He added that the charity still believed in shareholder engagement with companies. “We very strongly believe in engagement. Where engagement doesn’t work we will divest.”

The National Trust will now direct around £25m into green energy firms and companies with an environmental mission that would not be able to start or grow without the capital. Investments have already been made in a wind power and battery technology company.

Fossil fuel divestment campaigners welcomed the move. Anna Vickerstaff of 350.org says: “This is a welcome, but belated move from the National Trust.” The divestment is one of the largest by a UK organisation, eclipsing previous sell-offs such as the Church of England divesting £12m from fossil fuel firms in 2015.