Student climate activists warn super fund Hesta over ad they claim implies false endorsement

School climate activists have sent a legal letter to the $68bn superannuation fund Hesta, asking it to stop using an advert showing a student carrying a cardboard protest sign.

SS4C members said they were shocked and frustrated that Hesta had used the footage when the superfund was still invested in fossil fuel companies.

Hesta has rejected the accusation it was trying to link its brand to SS4C but said it had stopped using the imagery in March this year after hearing the concerns of the students.

Hall, who has met with Hesta representatives, said the cardboard sign and the written phrase had come straight from the SS4C grassroots movement.

According to Rachel Deans, a superannuation fund campaigner at Market Forces, a climate campaign group focused on the investments of financial institutions, Hesta has about $2bn invested in fossil fuel companies.