Sustainable Pensions For A Sustainable Future

This article is about choosing a sustainable pension to contribute to a sustainable future.

Do you care about our planet? Are you advocating for sustainability?

There are many actions you can take to support sustainability and make sure we as a society and our planet have a cleaner, better future. You can move around town by bike instead of driving your car. You can mount solar panels on your house to cut down on your electricity bill.

If you believe these options are not for you and you are looking for something different, here it is – the sustainable pension.

What is a sustainable pension?

Irrespective of your pension provider, all pension plans work the same: your money goes into different stocks and bonds which help companies develop and grow. Therefore your pension savings have a big impact on the future: both as an individual and as a society.

Do you know where your pension money is going?

Have you ever thought about the companies which receive your money? Do you know who they are? What are they producing? Is their business model harmful to the planet?

Here are the main benefits of choosing a sustainable pension:

• You have control over which companies receive your money;
• You can avoid investments in harmful companies (producing fossil fuels, weapons or tobacco etc);
• You can invest in companies producing green energy, new technologies, medicine and health care solutions.
• You can choose companies with a high standard for ethics and responsible business practices.

Choose a sustainable pension to ensure the future is sustainable

Denmark has some of the world’s largest pensions savings so where the Danish place their money matters for their country and the world at large.

The problem is all Danish pension funds invest in coal, oil and gas. The Danish want to avoid catastrophic climate change as a society so choosing sustainable pensions is one way to achieve their goal.

Matter – Let your savings make a difference

Matter is the entrepreneurial initiative of two Danish visionaries – Niels Fibæk-Jensen and Emil Stigsgaard Fuglsang. They are the co-founders of Matter Pension and are supported by a team of five colleagues. Forbes 30 under 30 included Niels Fibæk-Jensen in its 2019 Europe list.

Matter & Skandia – partnership for sustainable pensions

The company is not a pension company; the initiative is a partnership with Skandia, a Danish pension provider.

Matter acts as a lead-generator for Skandia; it assists Skandia in analyzing and screening the investment portfolios associated with the savings of Matter customers.

We believe that pensions should be invested in making a positive social and environmental difference in order to build a world, we actually want to retire in.

Niels Fibæk-Jensen, cofounder at Matter Pension

How the Matter & Skandia partnership works

Screening criteria

The team at Matter has defined a list of criteria based on international UN agreements on areas such as human rights, climate and environment.

Based on this list, they exclude harmful companies that produce weapons, tobacco and fossil fuels, companies that do not respect human rights or are known to be involved in corruption.

They include companies that produce climate and environmentally friendly technologies, medicine and health care solutions.

Working together

Matter screens the investments, while Skandia is responsible for managing the assets and pursuing the highest possible return.

Conclusion

Sustainable pensions are a great way to ensure our future is better for our planet and our grandchildren.

It’s an innovative, long-term solution to the current climate change challenge.

It is also an incentive for today’s global business environment to start transitioning towards business models that are ethical, sustainable, have a positive impact on the workforce, society and planet at large.