Am I allowed, at this stage, to point out that… there is no such thing as a fossil fuel free book?
Like it or not, paperback & hardback books are fossil fuel products.
If that sounds odd, consider for a moment how the book you’ve been idly flicking through is actually made… https://t.co/Wx0jmJdPGP

— Ed Conway (@EdConwaySky) May 31, 2024

A couple of weeks ago , the Great Escape refused to cave in and didn’t sack Barclays as its sponsor.  Nick Cave was asked by “the artist is present” whether that performer should play at the festival.

The event was a wild success.

This week I hear that the Edinburgh Book Fair has caved in to extreme wokery and sacked Baillie Gifford as its principal sponsor. Here are extracts from the announcement.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival and Baillie Gifford have ended their 20-year partnership.

In the interests of safety

authors and staff has been severely compromised, following the withdrawal of several authors and threats of disruption from activists.

and the well being of the festival organiser’s staff

“The pressure on our team has simply become intolerable”

It turns out that Baillie Gifford’s money has been received and spent – so this year’s festival will go ahead. The organisation that has been campaigning to get rid of the sponsor is “Fossil Free Books“. The announcement made by the Book Fair and Baillie Gifford makes no mention of who will sponsor the fair once Baillie Gifford withdraws.

I was not aware , till this issue arose, that anyone had ever considered Baillie Gifford anything but a responsible asset manager.

it seems that the assets they own on behalf of their clients are tainted.

I am invested in a fossil fuel free fund myself, but that does not mean that the assets in which my money is invested are not tainted in other ways. I am invested in tobacco stocks, I have my money invested in firms that trade in Israel and still have interests in Russia. I dare say my money may be propping up regimes in Africa, the Middle East and  Asia that whose practices I have no time for.

I fear that from November 5th , the bulk of my money will be invested in a country whose state head is a convicted felon (34 times over). Where will I find relief?

Clearly not in books. But my favorite place on this planet is but a short trip up the road from Edinburgh. It is the Library of Innerpeffray, the first lending library in the world.

Here , working people – educated by the fierce Calvinists, could come and read and take away the books of Hume. Kames and  the authors of the Scottish Enlightenment, their ideas shook the world and they were written down and disseminated on paper made from wood which had its carbon footprint.

I have spent several days in this library, enjoying the company of fine educated people who want to share the books held on the shelves, books that were donated to the library by benefactors who like Baillie Gifford, had made their money from trade.

I applauded Aegon, when their fund managers asked for their firm to be renamed after Kames and deplored the decision to switch back to Aegon because nobody knew who Kames was. To me, the cultural reference points of Scotland are books as well as lochs and mountains.

Baillie Gifford will no longer be sponsoring the Edinburgh Book Fair. This may be the last book fair in Edinburgh unless a fossil fuel free sponsor can be found to replace them. I do not see any alternative sponsor being recommended by Fossil Free Books.

If our heritage is tainted – all is tainted.

I daresay that some of the books in the Library of Innerpeffray were purchased with money made from trading slaves. I would be surprised if Edinburgh itself can extricate itself from the darker side of Scottish history, not least the boom over the past 50 years in oil and gas extraction from the north sea.

Are we to boycott towns such as Aberdeen, not visit Orkney or Shetland and dismiss Scotland itself for its association with energy farming?

Are the dear , most reverend and most educated people in our British Isles to be dismissed for being bookworms. Are their fund managers to be dismissed for not ridding themselves of any stock black-listed by Fossil Free Books?

Here is Baillie Gifford’s statement in defence of its asset ownership

“Baillie Gifford is a long-term investor with high ethical standards and a complete focus on doing what is right by our clients. The assertion that we have significant amounts of money in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is offensively misleading.

Baillie Gifford is a large investor in several multinational technology companies, including Amazon, NVIDIA, and Meta.

Demanding divestment from these global companies, used by millions of people around the world, is unreasonable and
serves no purpose. Much as it would be unreasonable to demand authors boycott Instagram or stop selling books on Amazon.

“Nor is Baillie Gifford a significant fossil fuel investor. Only 2% of our clients’ money is invested in companies with some business related to fossil fuels. We invest far more in companies helping drive the transition to clean energy.

“We remain committed to contributing positively to our community through philanthropic support

---

It is a shame that it has come to this. The “intolerable pressure” being put upon staff of the International Book Fair, should be put in context. Neither they, nor the protestors have to live under the stress of war , they are not suffering from the impact of climate change, they live in a great City and have the privilege of working with highly cultured people.

I suspect that authors from Duns Scotus to Robert Burns would have been rather more resilient against the existential threat posed by Fossil Free Books. I am sorry that the Edinburgh International Book Fair has caved in. While Fossil Fuel Free Books are on the case, I suspect that they will have difficulty finding another sponsor and the Fair may well become a closed book.

Addendum; I discover that Edinburgh is not alone, the Hay Literary Festival has also caved in.

Here you can read Alan Rusbridger’s excellent piece that compliments and improves on mine