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Campaign to halve emissions from pension funds

Published July 15, 2020

Campaign to halve emissions from pension funds

Comic Relief co-founder Richard Curtis has launched a campaign to halve emissions from pension fund portfolios by 2030 through sustainable investments.

The Make My Money Matter campaign ultimately hopes to achieve net zero pension funds by 2050. According to the campaign, a significant proportion of the £3 trillion pounds held by UK pension fund is invested on our behalf in sectors such as fossil fuels and mining and extraction. Meanwhile, the campaign points out that 68% of UK savers would prefer their investments to focus on environmental factors and not just profit.

The campaign claims a fund based on sustainable investments can help reduce carbon footprints 27 times more than a vegan, no-fly lifestyle. For this reason, it calls for more prudent investments for a better environment and a better future.

The goal of Make My Money Matter is to find out where the money is going, then to create a shift in investments to more positive industries. The  plan to achieve this through urging employers to align their pension with their missions and values, then empowering staff and executives to measure the impact of their funds and better engage with their employer to help facilitate that shift.

The campaign will lobby the UK government to include a requisite in the forthcoming Pensions Bill to have all pension funds report on their emissions projects up to 2050. A petition is in place for individuals to join the campaign in making this demand.

The campaign is backed by Mark Carney, UN special envoy for climate action and finance and former Bank of England governor.  More than 20 organizations are backing the campaign, among them WWF, Oxfam, and ecotricity. Earlier this year, Comic Relief joined the Funder Commitment on Climate Change, itself pledging to end fossil fuel investment.





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