The Church of England Pension Fund has decided to divest from major oil companies.

The Pension Fund has chosen to disinvest from oil majors such as Shell and other oil and gas companies that “are failing to show sufficient ambition to decarbonise in line with the aims of the Paris Agreement”.

Over the past decade, the Church of England Pension Fund has actively engaged with the oil and gas sector, urging companies to adopt more ambitious decarbonisation strategies.

However, despite these efforts, no company met the threshold required for continued investment, the Church of England has said.

John Ball, Chief Executive Officer of the Church of England Pensions Board said: “There is a significant misalignment between the long term interests of our pension fund and continued investment in companies seeking short term profit maximisation at the expense of the ambition needed to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.

“Recent reversals of previous commitments, most notably by BP and Shell, has undermined confidence in the sector’s ability to transition.”

A Shell spokesperson told Energy Live News (ELN): “It’s disappointing, but not surprising given its recent change in stance, that the Church of England Pensions Board has taken this decision.

“Our commitment to becoming a net zero emissions energy business by 2050 remains as strong as it ever was, and we firmly believe our strategy is aligned with the more ambitious goal of the Paris climate agreement.

“At the same time, we are clearly focused on capital discipline, enhanced performance and delivering shareholder value.”

ELN has approached bp for comment.