by Annika Joeres, Elena Kolb, Justus von Daniels The other because her pension is in part financed by this chemical company Our research makes the connection between these two people – and many others – visible In different ways they are tied to ever-growing pension funds that invest millions and billions of dollars all over the world – often in corporations that prop up the fossil fuel industry In order to be able to pay out large amounts of money pension funds are increasingly investing money in shares in which we are investing our retirement hopes and dreams In the financial jungle of international markets the fact that our pensions are in part fuelling industries that are harmful to the climate is often obscured thanks to collaborative research with international and local partners CORRECTIV can show that the system also works the other way around: pension funds from the US Canada and the UK invest their money in German chemical corporations German oil drilling fields and fossil fuel companies – to the annoyance of some of their unwitting investors 45-year-old Benjamin Roth lives not far from the Currenta chemical park in Leverkusen From his home he can see the incinerator’s steadily growing mountain of waste; it already rises thirty metres above the ground “Currenta has prioritised economic interests” the company wouldn’t  bother with transparency about the processes on the Chempark side The Chempark of Currenta has been weighing on Roth’s mind the last two years more than ever before seven workers were killed in an explosion there so his wife had to hole up on her own in the house with their five-month-old son and three-year-old daughter They waited in a thick cloud of smoke; when the cloud cleared everything was covered with soot particles Currenta operates a chemical park in Leverkusen covering almost five hundred hectares It is a production site for chemical giants such as Bayer and Evonik Currenta provides the necessary infrastructure for the disposal of the chemical waste In July 2021 the waste heated up so much that it produced extreme overpressure resulting in the explosion that terrified Benjamin Roth’s family the company has not been proven responsible for the catastrophe – yet there was great indignation on the part of the German population and in some areas of government at the fact that the company pumped toxic firewater into the Rhine after the explosion Residents like Roth complain about the company’s lack of transparency in communication Currenta itself claims it has initiated “a large number of different communication channels” for citizens Currenta is a company that 74-year-old pensioner Alix Otten from Manchester would rather have nothing to do with While Roth looks out onto Currenta’s waste dump Otten sees vegetables growing in her garden: potatoes otherwise the vegetarian can feed herself from her produce and tells us how she does not want to harm anyone with her lifestyle And yet it is also thanks to Otten’s money that the chemical park in Leverkusen can operate at all. As an employee, Otten paid into the Greater Manchester Pension Fund This in turn invested in a fund belonging to the investment banking company Macquarie Macquarie Asset Management holds all of Currenta’s shares Alix Otten receives part of her modest pension from the Greater Manchester Pension Fund: around £300 per month The fact that Otten gave part of her money – albeit indirectly – to Currenta If there was a way for her to get out of this pension scheme pension funds invest the money of teachers publicly traded companies such as Coca Cola or other financial assets such as government bonds The financial impact of these funds is huge: 38 trillion dollars are invested by pension funds in the global financial market exceeding the GDP of even the richest countries in the world such as the USA These investments are also keeping fossil fuel projects alive which prevent us from meeting global climate targets Many large corporations on the stock market are fuelling the climate crisis: according to one study the 60  largest banks on the stock market alone invested around 700  billion dollars in tar sands or Arctic oil mines in 2021 we came across nearly 30 international investors and a handful of international funds investing in German gas and coal-fired power plants And around 200 local pension funds from the UK and North America profit from oil projects and coal and gas-fired power plants in Germany according to our research at CORRECTIV The fact that the German government has been able to hold on to fossil fuel energy supplies for so long has therefore also been indirectly enabled by these investors Currenta’s coal and gas-fired power plants in the company’s three chemical parks are not the only ones being financed by these funds Public workers from Florida are partly paying for the chemical company Röhm’s gas-fired power plants Civil servants from South Yorkshire invest indirectly in the Bayernoil oil refinery teachers from Texas also invested indirectly in the chemical company Evonik and its coal-fired power plants even though many of them have made climate pledges Because of the broad distribution of money from pension funds it becomes difficult for individuals to understand exactly where their money is going It’s hard to track investments in chemical corporations or fossil fuel companies it is often not the pension funds themselves that invest the money or buy companies that are harmful to the climate or the environment There are usually private equity funds in between who invest the money on behalf of the pension funds Their investments are even less transparent Their investors often can’t see which industries their money which is supposed to end up providing them with an adequate pension Canadian Meghan Ecclestone, for example, had no idea that the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) which she paid into was also invested in a fossil fuel company in Germany until she spoke to CORRECTIV: about 500 Canadian dollars flow from Canadian Meghan’s salary into the pension fund CPP approximately 21 million Canadians pay their pension contributions to the same fund The CPP in turn invests the Canadians’ money in private equity funds CVC Capital Partners is one of three major shareholders in Neptune Energy Ltd Its subsidiary Neptune Energy Germany drills for oil and gas in Germany the company generated around 660 million euros in sales last year This makes Neptune Energy Germany’s second-largest oil producer one of them in Offenbach an der Queich in southern Germany But it’s a plan that’s meeting with resistance Wheat is still growing on the unremarkable field which is to be the site of oil extraction in the foreseeable future Next to the wheat field stands Susanne Roth who just happens to have the same name as Benjamin Roth from Leverkusen That’s the main reason why she opposes the planned oil well Not only would an agricultural area have to give way for the drilling Roth is also concerned about the groundwater in the region water levels in the area have already been sinking – and oil production uses up a lot of water She is also afraid that the groundwater will be polluted and movement in the ground could cause pipes to leak And then there’s the increased traffic the oil well would bring with it the crude oil from Offenbach will have to be transported by truck to a refinery »We’ve just redeveloped the main road here in town Susanne Roth Climate activist from Offenbach Local politicians in the region are also angry Both the local town council and the municipalities council have spoken out against oil drilling “Offenbach was voted Energy Community of the Month at the end of last year” That doesn’t sit comfortably with being the location of an oil well Offenbach is waiting for the submission of the main operating plan for a so-called “exploratory well” This plan still has to be approved by the responsible State Office for Geology and Mining in Mainz But it would not be the first time that an oil well has been approved in the region Neptune Energy and its partner Palatina GeoCon have been extracting oil for more than 15 years Confronted with the concerns of local residents a press spokesman for Neptune Energy replied that “from the consortium’s point of view (…) no negative environmental impact or danger to people or buildings is to be expected” The press spokesman justified the oil drilling in the middle of a climate crisis with the claim that “the oil is a resource (…) used for example in wind power and photovoltaic plants” and thus “is an important and indispensable enabler of the energy transition” oil is only used to a small extent – if at all – in renewables The majority of these fossil fuels goes into industry or petrol it was announced that Neptune Energy was to be sold to the Italian gas group Eni - but the German business including the investment in the Speyer oil field remains in dubious hands: The Chinese sovereign wealth fund CIC owns 49 percent of the British group Neptune Ltd which in turn owns the German subsidiary Neptune Germany The Chinese fund is Neptune's largest shareholder Eni’s takeover plans explicitly stipulate that the German business should remain with the existing investors Canadian Meghan Ecclestone had never heard of Neptune Energy Germany until she spoke to CORRECTIV Despite the fact that payments from salaries like hers is what makes the fossil fuel company’s business possible: about $500 Canadian dollars per month flow from her account to the Canadian Pension Plan Ecclestone works as a librarian in the Canadian city of Guelph, an hour from Toronto. She says she feels very close to nature. With her two children and husband, she enjoys taking bike rides in the area. In her spare time she is involved in the Canadian climate justice network “For our kids” That makes her all the more upset when she hears about her pension fund’s fossil fuel investments »It must be so frustrating for people trying to save their town knowing that Canadians are sitting on the other side of the world who have no idea what’s being done in their name.« She has now written an email to her pension fund manager: she wants him to explain how he plans to get out of fossil fuels Perhaps it is the first of many emails that Ecclestone will write Pelizzon believes it is primarily up to policymakers to use tax instruments to make fossil investments permanently unprofitable you can choose whether fossil companies should be part of your investment or not There are now studies according to which fossil-free investments yield just as high or even higher profits than their fossil-fueling counterparts pension funds would have to withdraw from Currenta If you would like to securely leak information and documents to us, please visit this page Unsere Reporterinnen und Reporter senden Ihnen Recherchen was Journalismus für unsere Gesellschaft leisten kann – regelmäßig oder immer dann Diycon will be exhibiting at the Enforce Tac trade fair in Nuremberg (February 26 to 28) Diycon will be presenting its own DNVC-6 multi-channel night vision goggles A submersible Pro version for combat swimmers will soon be available “The product has been specially tailored to the needs of authorities is available as monocular or stereoscopic goggles and fits all standard helmet interfaces,” reveals Managing Director Tobias Geiger the new multifunctional dwarf is the logical further development of the Diycon Thermal Fusion optics division and currently represents the maximum possible in terms of miniaturization the DNVC-6 combines a full HD night vision camera and a state-of-the-art thermal imaging sensor including image memory As a thermal imaging hybrid of the latest generation the device is therefore fully suitable for day and night use and An active IR and white light lamp is also installed so that it can also operate in complete darkness https://militaeraktuell.at/general-hokanson-partnerschaft-mit-bundesheer-waechst/ A submersible Pro version for combat swimmers is also available This is expected to be available from the second quarter of 2024 The Pro version was presented to users back in November as part of the Outer Limits Experience Week at Grundlsee A specially developed ultra-compact head mount affectionately referred to by the manufacturer as the “Night Pillow” will also be presented at the Enforce Tac trade fair stand Assembly and service for all Diycon products take place at the new production site in Offenbach an der Queich Militär Aktuell berichtet Online und Print über Militär- und Sicherheitsthemen das Bundesheer hat die Argonauten-Saga mit 25 Luftfahrzeugen neu interpretiert das Red Bull Blanix-Team und das Czech Flying Bulls Aerobatics Team Die "Airpower 2024" geizte nicht mit Highlights wie auch dieser eindrucksvolle Bildband zeigt Auf 70 Seiten holen wir im Format 210x210 Millimeter den europäischen Flugshow-Höhepunkt 2024 noch einmal in Erinnerung Jetzt vorbestellen! Wir informieren in unserem Newsletter alle zwei Wochen über aktuelle Entwicklungen aus den Bereichen Bundesheer Zudem verlosen wir monatlich unter all unseren Feldpost-Abonnenten attraktive Preise more topics The latest Progroup corrugated sheetfeeder plant in Petersberg has been in routine production since the beginning of August The Landau-based family company is extending its leading market position with its ultra-modern production site close to Pirmasens which will also create a combined total of 60 new jobs and training positions Progroup can celebrate reaching yet one more mile-stone Since the beginning of August the first corrugated board sheets have been routinely coming off the end of the line in the latest plant (PW15) in Petersberg “We are systematically pursuing our growth strategy and are strengthening our market position even further with this investment the plant is also a clear commitment to the Palatinate as a place for work and business,” stated Maximilian Heindl Progroup began operating its first plant in Offenbach an der Queich more than 30 years ago of this paper and corrugated board manufacturer is located in Landau PW15 is yet further proof of Progroup’s technological leadership Ultra-modern processes and innovative manufacturing technology form a perfect partnership here that guarantees corrugated board of the highest quality made by extremely efficient manufacturing methods The site has the very latest high-tech plant and equipment capable of manufacturing up to 200,000 tonnes of corrugated sheetboard per year The production line runs at a speed of 400 metres per minute The speed at which the project was completed was also impressive The ground-breaking ceremony took place as recently as June 2022 The rapid completion of the project is due primarily to Project Manager Rudolf Vervoorst and his team A clever concept provides a sustainable source of energy Two super-efficient combined heat and power plants plus a photo-voltaic plant on the roof cover the works’ total energy requirement for two-shift operation manufacturing corrugated board This also reduces the consumption of fossil fuels heat and power plant uses the waste heat from its own power generation either to generate cold or alternatively to feed heat into the heating circuit “This system is so efficient that we not only save energy in the manufacturing processes but can also heat the 30,000m2 building in winter and cool it in summer” explained Maximilian Heindl In Petersberg Progroup has repeated its successful packaging park model based on a long-term partnership PW15 was erected directly adjacent to the production facilities of Progroup’s long-standing customer G&G Preisser resulting in major advantages for both parties: Progroup corrugated board stacks from the fully automated high bay warehouse with 15,000 storage spaces are now transported by a conveyor belt directly into Preisser’s packaging plant The smart intralogistics system always knows exactly when and where each stack has to go and replaces deliveries previously made by road This not only eliminates significant costs for the two partner companies but also benefits the environment by removing the need for several dozen truck movements each day is one of the leading manufacturers of containerboard and corrugated board in Europe Since it was founded in 1991 in Offenbach/Queich the company has been pursuing a consistent growth strategy which is also based on the use of innovative and environmentally friendly production technologies Progroup operates production sites in six countries in Central Europe These currently include three paper factories a logistics company and a waste-to-energy power plant The company's second power plant is currently being constructed in Sandersdorf-Brehna near Leipzig the company generated sales of around 1.3 billion euros in 2023 presse@progroup.ag