- Mark Rylance, Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch ask the Chancellor to increase investment in clean energy by unlocking £1.2 trillion through pension reform
- Equity members are celebrating the union moving its £130 million pension scheme to a fund with extensive fossil fuel exclusions.
Equity is moving its £130m pension into a sustainable fund that has extensive fossil fuel exclusions and is aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. From November 2024, anyone enrolling in the Equity Pension Scheme for the first time will join our new greener, more progressive default fund. Existing members will move in 2025.
Join the Equity Pension SchemeThe move is being celebrated by Equity members – among them are Mark Rylance, Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Fry, Jodie Whittaker, Paapa Essiedu, Alex Lawther, Freddie Fox, Ritu Arya, Will Attenborough, Leila Mimmack and Tom Burke.
They have written an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer welcoming the move, and asking Rachel Reeves ahead of her Mansion House speech, to make the 'smart, strategic reforms' that could unlock a staggering £1.2 trillion from the pension sector for growing clean energy and infrastructure in the UK.
They say the Government can do this by reforming pension rules and pledging more public finance to generate green growth. This would lower bills and pollution levels, while creating good jobs and a healthy economy, they write.
Research by Make My Money Matter, a non-profit co-founded by filmmaker Richard Curtis, has found this to be a popular step, with two-thirds of the UK's pension holders wanting their savings to invest in clean energy.
The Chancellor is expected to propose an overhaul of the UK’s pension funds in order to unlock billions of pounds of investment. The annual Mansion House speech, which takes place on 14 November this year, is a key address used by the Chancellor to talk about the Government’s plans on the economy and financial regulation.
When we change, the whole world changes. Divesting from businesses and practices which are not harmonious with life on Earth is, I believe, an essential step for all of us to consider. Pensions are a powerful driver in society. I do not want this time of enormous challenge for all life on our planet to become a story of force, dictatorship, fear and war. Let us change the story by changing ourselves as a union of artists and choosing life over profit.
Mark Rylance, Equity member and actor.
The letter also asks the government to update fiduciary duty law, so that acting in savers' ‘best interests’ means taking the impacts of climate change and damage to nature into account.
A win for Equity activists
The move marks the culmination of a campaign first launched in 2017 to ensure members’ savings are aligned to a more sustainable future world. The campaign has been led by actors and Equity activists Will Attenborough and Leila Mimmack, who are part of our Equity for a Green New Deal network.
The move was widely backed by artists at the time, including Zoë Wanamaker, David Harewood, Maxine Peake and the writer Mike Bartlett.
Bringing artists' money out of fossil fuels has taken several years because funds that exclude oil, gas and coal have in the past been considered higher risk. Will and Leila say this is a market failure that ignores the risks posed by an overheating climate and polluted natural world.
Will Attenborough & Leila Mimmack say: "All of us, no matter where we come from, want a safe, healthy world to raise our families and retire into. This campaign shows what happens when people get together and use their savings to build a fairer future.
"Now we're looking to our political leaders to back us up. Banks, pension funds and insurers are using outdated models that ignore the severe risks of drilling for yet more fossil fuels. The new Government has an opportunity to set this right and unlock our money as a force for good."
Pension fund with extensive fossil fuel exclusions
The Equity Pension Scheme is available to all Equity members, allowing them to save for retirement with better contribution rates than auto-enrolment schemes, and covers major TV, theatre and film contracts.
The new fund won’t invest in companies involved in thermal coal, nor those making more than 10% of their revenue from oil and gas. In practice, it means members' money is far less likely to be directly invested in the big fossil fuel companies that are driving dangerous climate change.
This will be the default fund for members joining Equity's pension scheme from November 2024, while existing members will switch over in April 2025 (unless they choose to opt-out or have already done so).
The new pension fund also offers various risk levels at a relatively low cost, meaning it can be used as a default workplace pension scheme. As a result, we are able to deliver this new scheme at no extra cost to its members, showing greener does not have to mean more expensive or lower returns.
As many performers work inconsistently and may be considered financially vulnerable, it was essential the move places no added expense on workers.
Equity’s members have power because they act together as a collective. The climate crisis is a problem built by capitalism, and capitalism alone won’t fix it. That’s why we need unions like Equity doing all they can to push for change, whether in negotiations with producers over Green Riders, or leveraging our members’ pension investments against fossil fuel extraction. We can push the bosses who made this crisis to play their part in the Green Industrial Revolution we need.
Paul W Fleming, Equity General Secretary.
Like most savers around the country, Equity members want their pensions to build a better world. This is a positive step to making that a reality. By exploring and developing new reserves, fossil fuel companies undermine our efforts to tackle the climate and nature emergency. If these companies are not part of the solution, they are not fit to be invested in.
Tony Burdon, CEO of Make My Money Matter.
