Make my money matter is closing

After five years, we are closing the doors on Make My Money Matter, our campaign to change the financial system to put the welfare of people and planet on a par with profit. It’s been a roller-coaster ride – getting funding for campaigning is always hard – but the basic argument has always been the same: money makes the world go round – but it also has the potential to destroy it. Ultimately, HOW we use our money could give ourselves and our children a safer world to live in. Yet most of us don’t realise we have this power.

Pension schemes are huge investors in business – and that money is actually OURS. Without knowing it, every day our pensions are investing in deforestation, in oil and gas expansion, in companies that are part of hurting people and planet. And our trusted high-street banks who look after our savings – Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, NatWest and Santander – are amongst the world’s biggest financers of the new fossil fuels that are pushing us into catastrophe. This is madness. All the comforts and safety we invest for won’t mean a thing if the world is burning and flooding around us.

But it needn’t be this way. Over the last five years – with the support of tens of thousands of people across the UK – hundreds of businesses, universities, churches, charities, politicians, academics, celebrities, and allies in the financial sector, have all come together to make their money matter. Our short campaigning films have been viewed over 30 million times: two thirds of British savers now want a sustainable pension and half plan to ditch bad banks for greener options. Our latest campaign calling for people to go green – fronted by Netflix/BBC star Ambika Mod – has been watched nearly 1.5 million times in a few days! A huge wave of people looking for better, greener banks – like Triodos Bank, Nationwide and Starling – to look after their money.

This public appetite has delivered real impact too. Most UK pension schemes have now committed to invest our money in ways that try to limit global warming below 1.5°C, including halving their emissions by 2030. This means some £1.5 trillion is now on the right track. Our Climate Action Report – which shook up the UK pensions industry by showing savers for the first time ever how their pensions rank in fighting climate change – is driving a race to the top. The 2025 ranking shows what is possible if all schemes adopted the best practice from their peers – the industry would score 7.6 out of 10 in fighting climate change instead of a worrying 4.5.

Yet reality remains stark. 2024 was the hottest year on record and this year began with devastating wildfires in California. We are facing a climate and nature catastrophe, and our own money is helping fuel it. Meanwhile – our banks and pensions continue to finance new fossil fuels and deforestation.

But it is not too late. A different way is possible. There is over £3 trillion in our UK pensions – money belonging to all of us – that can build a better world. The billions the big 5 banks pump into fossil fuels could instead be driving the green transition. Our government has to deliver on its promise to require companies – including pensions and banks – to make sure their actions help limit global warming to below 1.5 C. We need our leaders to put savers and their retirement and all our futures first.

We need bold, brave action to make it happen – and British savers and businesses can all be part of that.

Make My Money Matter has been part of a growing movement that will continue to campaign for a fairer, greener financial system. Organisations like Finance Innovation Lab are coordinating efforts for “Better pensions for All”, and a huge roster of UK’s leading institutions from Cambridge University to Sheffield Cathedral are leading the charge to make fossil-free banks the norm.

And then there is you, dear readers. If you have not yet made your money matter, now is the time. Have another look at our campaign videos, from Oblivia Coalmine to Benedict Lumberjack. They might make you laugh – but they’ll also encourage you to act now if you haven’t already. You can switch to a bank that does not finance fossil fuels and move to the sustainable option in your pension fund. Businesses and charities can switch banks too and choose the greenest pension provider for their staff.

We know times are hard and frightening, but through our money, together, we can play a real and important role in changing the bigger system. Together we can make our money matter and help make our wonderful world resilient and safe.   

Richard Curtis, Co-founder and Tony Burdon, CEO Make My Money Matter

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