DATA released today reveals that Merseyside’s councils invest almost £200m of their workers’ pensions into companies that frack, despite fierce local opposition to fracking across the UK.

The news comes as the fracking industry is poised to drill for gas for the first time in seven years in the UK.

Merseyside’s pension fund is revealed to invest £198.6 million in companies that rely on fracking – that’s 2.49% of its pensions.

Questions are now being asked as to why councils are investing in this industry when UK public support for fracking is consistently low.

Many councils have voted against fracking developments in their areas, but council-run funds remain invested in the industry. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland fracking has effectively halted, but councils still oversee pension funds investing heavily in fracking companies.

The companies that councils are investing in include BP, Royal Dutch Shell, and ConocoPhillips. These companies are fracking in places like Argentina, Canada and Australia.

BP, one of the companies involved, does not frack in the UK to avoid ‘the wrong type of attention’ but has huge fracking operations abroad.

Sakina Sheikh, divestment campaigner with Platform said: “The devastating fires and record temperatures this summer have brought the impacts of climate change home. Neither local communities or our climate can afford for the fracking industry to win. Our councils are providing everyday support to the frackers, it’s time to stop. It’s time to divest from fossil fuels.”

Deirdre Duff, divestment campaigner with Friends of the Earth, added: “UK councils should know better than to invest in fracking companies. These companies are inflicting their fracking operations on communities around the world, and this can have significant impacts.

“Many UK councils have rightly opposed fracking in their own area – however it is shocking that they still support the global fracking industry. We should remember too that the climate change caused by fracking will affect us all, no matter where the fracking is conducted.”