The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has promised to stop all remaining financial investments in fossil fuels by the end of next year at the latest.

The professional leadership body’s pledge to relinquish any financial interests it has in companies that extract fossil fuels, including coal, oil, gas and tar sands, forms part of its goal to become “an environmentally responsible organisation," it said. 

Having launched a climate declaration in September calling on the pharmaceutical industry, governments across the UK and other stakeholders to work together to address environmental issues, the RPS conceded it needed to go further “to balance out the negative impacts of climate change".

The RPS president Claire Anderson said it was “a significant moment” for the organisation.

“RPS has always taken its responsibility for ethical investments extremely seriously. Following careful consideration of the options available, the Assembly will divest from fossil fuels,” she said.    

“RPS will instruct its investment managers immediately to ensure that we will be completely disinvested by the end of 2022 and hopefully sooner.

“We’re committed to tackling the climate and ecological emergency both as an organisation and working with colleagues across the pharmacy profession. But pharmacy can’t act alone. We’re calling on the pharmaceutical industry, governments across GB and other stakeholders to work with us to make the changes that are needed to tackle the climate emergency.”