Make your money matter!
Some of the opening remarks in this important talk today:
Putting your super into good investments is 21 times more powerful than giving up flying, eating meat and switching energy provider - combined…
Climate “justice” - consider the storms in the Phillipines killing people….
Cocktail parties happening this week while people are literally dying all over the world due to the issues being discussed…
“Doomism” a tactic by people to get people to give up and let them keep doing what they are doing…
Richard Curtis filmaker - spoke about the film to be shown at the end of the talk.
Ray from WWF
Child born 8 years ago and wanted to start staying for his future. Realised like no other way - how was this money building his future as well as creating an investment for his part in it. Very personal view of what he does on a daily basis. Really tricky as to how to do this - wanted to make it easier. Took this to learn a few things and achieve a sustainable outcome. Lots changing in this area, much for the good.
What can we all do? A lot. Personal finances are really powerful - most people have bank accounts and pensions, and money is so potent. Make sure the money is doing good, not bad. Need to help push institutions and markets into better actions.
David Haymen, Make my Money Matter
Film about your money investing in deforestation is powerful….
So many people in the room have no idea where the pension money is invested or the impact that is having. Need to make this help make the world fit for our retirement.
Individuals thinking a lot about everyday steps to make things better for the future. Our pensions are our superpower in this regard. We can be accidental investors in the things we are actively fighting against - often without our knowledge.
3 facts:
2.6 trillion pounds, 56 trillion pounds globally
Emissions associate with these are building the world around us - for better or worse. More than total UK emissions output.
Moving from default standard pension to more sustainable pension is 21 more powerful than giving up flying, eating meat and switching energy provider - combined.
Businesses need to focus on this as well for their staff. Want all 2.6 trillion invested well.
Natalie Isaacs from 1 Million Women
Spoke about her journey to climate activism from one who was not doing anything positive, and the desire to similarly empower others to join her on her journey.
Small actions every day give people the impetus to continue and do more.
Big part of our work now is to engage women on the economic power around banking and super - something Nat didn’t really realise till several years after starting 1MW. We want women to shift 1 billion dollars from funds that support fossil fuels and other negative investments and into those that support the future we need.
If Australia’s 3 Trillion of super in invested ethically could achieve a lower footprint of 78 Million Tonnes of CO2 per year. That's the equivalent of 16.9 million cars off the road.
Also - everyone of our purchasing decisions has impact - we need to think about the small daily money issues, that collectively are huge. They have social, economic and environmental impacts - our decisions have impact.
Charmian Love from B Corp UK
Heliotropy - the tendency of plants to grow in the direction of the sun
We humans are similar - will grow better when we focus on positivity and light
Important to bring in the sunflowers are rooted - to the ground, the ecology etc. radical origin is rooted
Hope and urgency to act - difficult to hold together but we can walk and chew gum. We can be both and, not either or. BCorps do this all the time - finding ways to make money while doing good.
People inside business are what is motivating them. 3 playlists ideas:
right here right now - an urgent invitation how you can convene people if your organisation and talk about these ideas
Climb every mountain - need to take it to the top of the organisation
Come together - community game, collective action, entire movements of businesses working together to drive systems level change
Host board meetings as if they’re in 2030 - who would be there, what’s on the agenda, what are the rules, where is it taking place, what are the decisions being made.
MC Simon Mundy from the Financial Times
We need systems level change - not working within current system but changing it. Hard and big - no one person has all the answers. Need big conversations and invite in all ideas.
No good de-platforming CEOs who are paid too much and an inherent part of problem. Need to bring them along to use their skills be a part of the solution.
Michael Mann chose not to come - favourite climate scientist. Great book - New Climate War. No longer fighting the idea that CC is real - have stopped that. Now - “doomism” getting people to give up and a deliberate effort to distract people by getting them to focus on their personal carbon footprint… it can undermine certain things especially political action.
We need to think about what we can do as citizens, together.
How much can you do as a citizen, consumer, investor… especially with only so many hours in a day?
Ray - Depends on your values and where you think you can have your biggest impact. Bretton Woods meeting - redesigned whole financial set up of the world in 3 weeks after WW2. We can rebuild the system now - for good and fair ways. Can be done.
Nat - you need to do it all. We focus on how to reach people not on the journey and bring them along. Easy to go from not too hard/disengaged to despair. Place in the middle is action - empowers people to action and finding their voice. Australia - we have an election coming up soon! Food waste - 3rd largest emitter of zCO2 after US and China. Use the things in your own life you can control, collectively, to make change.
Questions from the audience:
Changing bank accounts - where? Look at Switchit
Where does your pension go - deflected by “not invested” (teaching fund). True - advocate for change.
Systems will not change unless everyone advocates for change. The more who do this, the more the system changes.
As a teacher - you hold a lot of power being in a trusted position to influence the future through culture change. So important to focus on this power.
Regulatory change does not happen without culture change.
Young people don’t have economic literacy - how can this be remedied so when they start working life they are ready for this?
MyBank - trying to get into schools to do this, plus online. Need to work with, listen to and engage with young people.
Very few financial institutions that have a truly totally green offering… hard to know. But - be wary of big companies treating this as a marketing opportunity that exploits this lack of literacy.
If you do have money to invest - is it better to donate to charities who are doing stuff or start up companies or oldercompanies doing good things?
People want to invest in philanthropy with impact.. how can you leverage in other funds other people to create a movement? Deforestation a big issue…
How can the money actually influence other things?
Watched film “Our Planet, too Big to Fail” - brilliant!
Take away points:
understand your risks and manage them. Biggest risk is inaction. Climate “minsky” moment
declare and halt your negative impact.
invest in good. ESG should be bare minimum - need to go much further such as reporting on what good you are doing. Move from extract revenue to invest in revenue.
seize new opportunities - they are everywhere
build the new system we need. Mandate to be regenerative and direct capital with new set of goals. Reframe our idea of value.