Two climate change campaign groups have called on U.K. companies to pledge to make their retirement assets greener, potentially putting £2.6 trillion ($3.7 trillion) in assets to work.
Make My Money Matter, a campaign founded by filmmaker Richard Curtis, and Count Us In, a project aiming to reduce carbon pollution, launched the Green Pensions Charter on Tuesday.
The charter asks major brands and organizations such as IKEA, Ernst & Young and Oxfam, to work with their retirement plan providers or trustees to commit to net-zero emissions targets by 2026. It wants firms to make the pledge ahead of the United Nations climate change conference later this year, known as COP26.
Fifty firms have already signed up.
"This charter supports the growing demand across society for pensions we can be proud of, and acts as a critical reminder to the industry that the £2.6 trillion circulating in U.K. pension schemes must be invested in ways which build a healthy planet, as well as deliver healthy returns," Mr. Curtis said in a news release.
