A new interactive guide to provide pension funds with the tools they need to ensure their investments are not driving deforestation across the globe is launched today by Global Canopy, Make My Money Matter and SYSTEMIQ.
This year, research revealed that £2 in every £10 individuals save into their pensions in the UK is linked to companies and financial institutions at high risk of deforestation, jeopardising many schemes’ ambitious commitments to achieve net zero..

How to achieve deforestation-free pensions provides practical steps and actions for pension funds to identify, address and eliminate deforestation risk and associated human rights abuses, as well as future-proof their investments.

The guidance was created by Global Canopy in partnership with Make My Money Matter, SYSTEMIQ and in close consultation with 12 pension funds. Its online format provides different pathways for various investment approaches – allowing users to log-in and access the guidance most relevant for the needs of their specific pension fund.

Building on the Finance Sector Roadmap on Eliminating Commodity Driven Deforestation launched at COP26, the guidance sets out six phases, from identifying and mapping deforestation and its associated human rights risks within portfolios, to setting a policy and engaging with asset managers, to eliminating deforestation from their investments.

Make My Money Matter and Global Canopy call on all pension schemes to review and adopt this best practice guidance – and to sign up to the Race to Zero commitment letter on eliminating agricultural commodity-driven deforestation from their investments by 2025, here.

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