Filmmaker Richard Curtis has warned that the pensions industry should be “put on red alert,” as a new report says billions of UK savers’ money is driving deforestation.
In Great Britain £2 in every £10 invested in an average pension is linked to forest loss, amounting to some £300 billion of UK pension money, according to research shared exclusively with Sky News.
“This is bad for the planet, risky for returns and goes against the values of UK savers,” said Mr Curtis, the ‘Notting Hill’ and ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ screenwriter, who co-founded campaign group Make My Money Matter (MMMM).
Globally 30 football pitches’ worth of forest are cut down every minute, according to World Resources Institute. Forests regulate climate, provide food, work, water and shelter and absorb and store the climate-heating gas carbon dioxide.
“There can be no action on climate change without tackling deforestation,” Mr Curtis told Sky News.
‘We’re all linked’
The majority of that deforestation is driven by markets that need commodities from forested land, such as palm oil, soy and beef cattle, according to the joint report from MMMM, Global Canopy and Systemiq.
“So we’re all linked in to a global deforestation economy, be it through food or fashion,” Global Canopy executive director Niki Mardas told Sky News.
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The report points the finger at the financial industry for funding those markets via its pension funds. Mr Mardas says the report’s use of language such as “linked to” or “at high risk of” forest loss is because it is difficult to get accurate numbers from “an industry that doesn’t offer much…
Source : skynews
