Knowing where our pension funds are invested is a first step to creating a better world

Peace campaigners are investing in arms manufacturers, vegans are investing in meat production and environmental campaigners are investing in fossil fuels. This dichotomy cannot continue, writes Richard Curtis

There’s £3 trillion invested by UK pension funds alone – this is our money, and we can choose where it goes (PA)

I’ve always been interested in campaigns with big ideas, from Comic Relief to Make Poverty History. But what I certainly hadn’t focused on was where we put our pension money. And this, as I learned last year, is one of the most important things we can all do to help build a better world.

In March 2019, I happened upon a TED talk by an Australian oncologist called Dr Bronwyn King. She’d spent her whole career trying to save the lives of patients with cancer. And then in her mid-30s, she had her first meeting with her pension manager. She found out that three of the top businesses her retirement pot was invested in were tobacco companies. During her life, she realised, she may actually have contributed to more deaths through her investments than she’d saved with her life’s work.

It turns out this contradiction is everywhere: our pensions can make us unwitting hypocrites. Peace campaigners are accidentally investing in arms manufacturers, vegans are investing in meat production and environmental campaigners are investing in fossil fuels. In the US recently, there was the terrible story that the pension funds of Florida teachers had invested in the guns used in school shootings. This dichotomy cannot continue.

The good news is that the public – especially young people – are starting to catch on. More than three-quarters – 78 per cent – of young savers don’t think their pensions align with their values; more than two-thirds of people want their savings to consider people and the planet as well as profit.

Before last year, I didn’t even know that my pension money was invested. But this money is invested, and for better or worse, it is creating the world around us. And the numbers are grim. Since the Paris climate accord was signed in 2015, banks and insurance companies have invested more than £1.5 trillion in fossil fuels.

There’s £3 trillion invested by UK pension funds alone – but this is our money, and we can choose where it goes.

We tend to look at ethical investment as a process of elimination: ethical pension funds screen out arms or tobacco companies, leaving us with a range of companies that are more palatable to invest in. But far more important is what we positively do with our money, rather than what we avoid. Our pension pot can be invested in discovering vaccines, building affordable housing or expanding renewable energy. It can support companies that champion diversity, initiatives which invest in local communities and businesses which provide decent, reliable employment at home and abroad. Our money could be pouring into innovative and exciting businesses that are changing the world, and shaping the kind of future in which we want to enjoy our retirement.

This isn’t a case of sacrificing our personal finances for the planet, by the way. Over half of ethical investment funds have outperformed the wider global stock market in the downturn.

As temperatures hit 40 degrees in the Arctic this week, it’s more important than ever that the finance industry uses its immense power to help build a better, carbon-free world.

The Make My Money Matter campaign, which I am very proud to have been involved in founding, is calling on the pensions industry to commit to net zero emissions by 2050 and to at least halving emissions by 2030, in line with the Paris climate agreement. That will be a crucial first step to ensure we all have pensions to be proud of.

After Covid, there’s a real window of opportunity to build back better. Even though pensions are generally low on our list of fun things to do, it’s time we all started thinking about how to guarantee that our pensions match our values, and are used to create a better world.

A sustainable pension could have up to 27 times more impact on reducing our carbon footprint than giving up flying and becoming a vegan, combined. So find out who your pension provider is, where your pension is invested – whether you’ve chosen a pension yourself or if it’s through the company you work for – and how it could be doing good while it grows. Find out how you can make your money matter.

We’ve got £3 trillion to invest. And it could change the world.

Richard Curtis CBE is a screenwriter, producer and director. He is the co-founder of Make My Money Matter campaign, calling for the trillions invested in UK pension money to create a better world