Charity cuts £ 750,000 donation from gas company over unwillingness to take cash from fossil fuel companies
- Save the Children refused a large donation because it was from a gas producer
- The £ 750,000 donation from Neptune Energy to Ukraine has been rejected
- Save the Children said they did not want the money because they ‘do not want to support fossil fuels’
By Niamh Lynch For The Daily Mail
Published: | Updated:
Save the Children has rejected an energy company’s donation of £ 750,000 to ease the Ukraine crisis because they do not want to support fossil fuels.
It declined the cash from North Sea gas producer Neptune Energy two weeks ago, saying it was “committed to working on climate change issues”.
Despite refusing aid to Ukraine, she said it would take cash for its children emergency fund, which supports young people in crises around the world, because ‘this could be used in a crisis for which relatively little money is available’ .
Save the Children snapped up big donations to Ukrainian children over Neptune’s connection to fossil fuels (file image)
Neptune, who says it has given £ 1.5million for Ukrainian humanitarian efforts, challenged the decision with the confidence of Save the Children, saying his staff had chosen the charity and the Snub had “shocked” them.
Save the Children now refuses donations from companies “that are core business fossil fuels … after a leadership of children who protested over the threat posed by the climate crisis to their future,” The Daily Telegraph reported.
Neptune says it has less carbon emissions than the industry average and it will store more carbon than it emits by 2030.
The company, which is chaired by former Centrica chief Sam Laidlaw, produces about 130,000 barrels of oil equivalent each day.
Vice President Richard Winter is a partner at PwC, which advises various energy companies, while board member Anne Fahy has worked for the oil company BP for 27 years.
A spokesman for Save the Children said: “We decided earlier this month that we would stop donating as soon as possible from companies whose core business is fossil fuels.
“The only exception in a transitional period before this policy comes into force would be a large donation to our flexible children emergency fund.
‘The reason is that this can be used in a crisis for which relatively little money is available, such as in the Horn of Africa.
“We have changed our policy after a lead of children around the world protesting about the threat posed by the climate crisis to their future.”
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