The UK Government has warned local authorities that they must adopt environmental and social policies consistent with central government or face "severe penalties" if they divest from fossil fuel holdings or boycott oil, coal and gas firms in procurement tenders. This can be achieved by limiting exposure to financially risky fossil fuel investments.” However, lawyers say that the directive could be open to legal challenges, and the Opposition has called it "an attack on local democracy" and "utterly unacceptable for the government to seek to override councils' responsible investment decisions in this way. " A spokesman for the Department of Energy & Climate Change (Decc) said: "We are committed to ensuring all energy companies operate within a sustainable business model which is compatible with our climate change commitments.
The UK Government has warned local authorities that they must adopt environmental and social policies consistent with central government or face "severe penalties" if they divest from fossil fuel holdings or boycott oil, coal and gas firms in procurement tenders. However, lawyers say that the directive could be open to legal challenges, and the Opposition has called it "an attack on local democracy" and "utterly unacceptable for the government to seek to override councils' responsible investment decisions in this way. " A spokesman for the Department of Energy & Climate Change (Decc) said: "We are committed to ensuring all energy companies operate within a sustainable business model which is compatible with our climate change commitments.