Your Money, Your Choice

Your pension might feel like something far in the future but it’s important for you take an active role in deciding where your money goes now.

What is your pension funding?

Every year UK pension funds invest £88 billion in coal, oil, and gas companies [1]. Our pension contributions are funding major polluters including Shell, Total and BP [1], which drive large scale deforestation, poison our air and water, and breach human rights [2].

Ecosystem Destruction

Offshore oil drilling and spills from blowouts endanger marine life and their habitats, affecting food security of local communities [3].

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Violation of Human Rights

Oil spills pollute the air, water, and soil and eventually the bloodstreams of those exposed. Food and drink become contaminated with carcinogens, the risk of premature birth is increased, and agriculture land is rendered unusable [4].

Deforestation

While oil and gas companies continue to be funded by our pensions, they will continue to destroy our rainforests [5].

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How your money ends up in their pockets

Fossil fuel companies make money by selling bonds. The biggest buyers of these bonds are asset management companies which use the money from pension funds to make investments in oil and gas companies [6].

Questions to ask yourself

o Does your pension provider lack transparency?

o Are they investing in carbon-heavy sectors or fossil fuels?

o In the case of private pension funds, have you sought independent advice about where to invest your money?

Find out what your pension invests in

Funding a future worth retiring into

By opting to remove your money from funds and institutions that are investing in fossil fuels, you can threaten the long-term viability of fossil fuels and accelerate the transition to renewables [2].

Moving the average UK pension to a sustainable equivalent reduces around 19 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions per year, almost three times the average UK carbon footprint [1].

An increasing number of fossil fuel “assets” are at risk of becoming stranded as governments implement climate policies and raise carbon pricing. With the accelerating transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles, investing in assets that are being phased out is becoming financially unviable [8].

How to take action

Call on your council to divest

Find out what your council invests in and talk to your neighbours about it. Remember, our pensions are for our future — how they are invested is up to us too.

Find out more

Divest your pension

Switch your workplace pension to a sustainable one. NEST has an ethical pension that excludes fossil fuel companies and organisations that violate global human rights.

NEST's ethical fund