Making sure our pensions are climate-friendly

Huddersfield Friends of the Earth are calling on pension funds to take climate change seriously to safeguard the investments of millions of savers. Fifty per cent of adults in the UK have a pension and, with the Government’s new auto-enrolment pension policy, that number is set to increase.

At its recent first meeting, Huddersfield FoE highlighted ShareAction’s Green Light campaign which encourages pension providers to take climate change into account when making investment decisions, engage with companies on the issue and ensure their own policies reflect the effects and consider the risks that climate change poses to long-term investments.

Chayley Collis, Huddersfield FoE co-ordinator, said: “We believe pension funds should use their financial clout to make sure climate change is a key factor in making investment decisions. If it is wrong to wreck the climate it is wrong to benefit from that destruction. Pension funds must consider the risks climate change poses, not just to the environment, but to the savings of millions of people who need a healthy pension pot and a healthy planet on which to retire.”

To support the GreenLight campaign and contact pension funds, go to: www.greenlightcampaign.org.uk

More information about Huddersfield Friends of the Earth is at www.huddersfieldfoe.wordpress.com

Notes:
· ShareAction is a UK-based NGO campaigning for responsible investment by pension funds and other institutional investors. ShareAction demands transparency and accountability to the millions of people with savings managed by investment professionals. For more information visit www.shareaction.org

· ShareAction launched the Green Light campaign to encourage pension funds to embed climate-awareness into their investment decisions, dialogue with companies and into policy advocacy to protect pension savers from the financial risks of climate change. Download our Green Light report at www.shareaction.org/greenlightreport