Are your finances fueling the climate crisis?
16th January 2025
At the 2024 Music Mark Annual Conference, we explored Sustainability in Music Education, with keynote speakers and breakout sessions diving into some of the challenges the music education sector is facing in financial sustainability, workforce sustainability, and environmental sustainability. Peter Bolton and Ruth Roberts joined us to share how they greened Kent Music’s finances, giving valuable insight into how your bank and pensions could be causing significant environmental damage. So, what’s going on, and what can we do about it?
The Big 5 UK High Street Fossil Fuel Banks
According to Make My Money Matter, in 2023 the UK’s biggest 5 banks funnelled $56 billion into fossil fuels. These are Barclays (who contributed $24.2bn alone into fossil fuels in 2023), HSBC, Santander, Natwest, and Lloyds.
“By continuing to support and use the services of these banks, we risk undermining our own sustainability efforts while endorsing the role our banks play in furthering climate catastrophe.” – Make My Money Matter’s Green Banking Guide
In 2024, bank.green also published a list of the ‘Top 5 Dirtiest Banks in the UK’ and the ‘Top 5 Greenest Banks’ for 2024, with JP Morgan Chase, Standard Chartered, Santander, HSBC and Barclays listed as the worst. They also provide a longer list ranking 103 financial institutions in the UK from best to worst in terms of their climate impact, so even if you aren’t with one of the banks named above, you might be surprised to see which other banks are funding fossil fuels and deforestation. The list is also helpful in providing a wider range of alternative options that you could switch to.
If your workplace is currently using one of these banks, switching to a green alternative would significantly reduce the carbon emissions linked to your business management. It also creates an opportunity to demonstrate your dissatisfaction with the financing of fossil fuels to the banks themselves.
Make My Money Matter’s Green Banking Guide is a short guide designed to support organisations in greening their finances which you may find helpful. They also provide suggestions of green banks that you could switch to on their website.
Ruth shares how Kent Music worked with MotherTree to switch to a greener bank:
“When we realised that our current bank was one of the worst in the UK for supporting carbon emissions, we asked MotherTree to help us to switch. A MotherTree adviser met with us to hear what we needed in a banking service and then carried out a comprehensive review of the market. They came up with a shortlist of green bank recommendations, and we decided to switch to The Co-Operative Bank as their ethos aligned with our values while providing the functionality that we needed. We are expecting the financed emissions of our bank accounts to be reduced by about 65% which is a significant step towards meeting our climate reduction goals.”
The Impact of Your Pension
According to Make My Money Matter, “UK pension schemes invest a staggering £88 billion in fossil fuel companies”. Whilst it can be tricky to relate these transactions to our own money, Make My Money Matter have put this simply:
“For every £10 you put in your pension, £2 is linked to deforestation.”
They have a helpful table ranking the top 20 UK pension providers on their climate plans to help you identify whether your pension provider is using your money to invest in deforestation and fossil fuels, and to provide suggestions for providers you could move to instead.
If you aren’t responsible within your organisation for choosing a pension provider, Make My Money Matter have also created an email template (available through the ‘Email my employer’ button on this page) that you can use to ask your employer to switch to a deforestation-free pension.
And if you are the decision-maker, their ‘Green Pensions Guide 2024’ provides further information about the links between pensions and the climate crisis, and gives you a step-by-step guide outlining how you can go about switching your organisation’s pension provider to a more ethical alternative. Make My Money Matter will also be publishing a 2025 guide in February with their latest rankings.
“As an organisation, we are not yet ready to switch to a more sustainable pension provider, as we are aware that this will have an impact on the individual finances of our employees. However, we have raised awareness among staff to enable them to make more informed decisions about their pension investment options and have provided information about how individuals can switch to more ethical funds with our current pension provider.” – Ruth Roberts, Kent Music
The slides from Peter and Ruth’s ‘Greening Your Finances’ session at the conference are available to download on the resources page of the 2024 conference website.
If you’re interested in reducing the climate impact of your organisation or business, Positive Planet offers solutions and support, tailored to your needs. Currently offering a 10% discount for Music Mark Members, they provide tools for carbon footprint measurement, emissions reduction, employee training, stakeholder engagement, and programme delivery. Get in touch with us at info@musicmark.org.uk to find out more!
