Green pension overview
Did you know that greening your pension could be the biggest thing you do to reduce your carbon footprint? In fact, it’s over twenty times more effective than skipping a flight, turning veggie and changing energy providers combined.
There’s over £3 trillion wrapped up in UK pensions. By encouraging your provider to clean up their investment act (through sites such as Make My Money Matter) or by switching to a greener provider (through sites such as Switch It), it’s possible to steer your pension investments towards having a positive impact on our planet.
A number of pension providers now offer pensions that focus on green investments. The PensionBee Fossil Fuel Free Plan, offered by Legal & General, is one of the UK’s first mainstream private pension plans to completely exclude those companies with oil, gas or coal reserves. The plan also invests more of your money in companies aligned with the Paris climate change goals of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees.
The NEST ethical fund is another green pension option and it has one of the lowest annual management charges on the market at 0.3%. The fund invests in companies with good human rights records, fair labour practices and fair trade policies. It also avoids investing in companies that damage the environment. In 2020 NEST announced its plan to decarbonise all of its investments. Royal London also has several sustainable options for both workplace and personal pensions.
For information on green mortgages see here.
