Business magnate Deborah Meaden urges companies to up their game

Poor communications that fail to engage people with their pension savings are hampering both the uptake of greener pension options and companies’ willingness to promote them, says Deborah Meaden.
Speaking at a Make My Money Matter (MMMM) event yesterday (12 September) the entrepreneur and businesswoman said companies “need to open about their definition of sustainability”.

Meaden appeared alongside MMMM co-founder and film producer Richard Curtis where she discussed her long-standing commitment to sustainable investment and the role green pensions can play in helping the UK on its transition to net zero.

“Even if you as the business do not care about the planet at all, it makes good commercial sense,” she said. “And the best way to communicate is simply and clearly. Pensions communications are dull as dishwater.”

Meaden warned that good communications can easily get “drowned out” and said it was vital that pension providers make their messages clear and simple.

“It might be a legacy thing, but in financial services we use really complex language, but it doesn’t mean to say everything has to be heavy handed.”

Curtis agreed, adding that he felt pension companies were going to be adversarial towards the ethical pensions campaign, which first launched two years ago and has since seen the push of £1.3trn of British pension money is committed to net zero.

“Pensions are the biggest weapon in the armoury in the fight for the things that matter,” he stated. “It’s what people could be investing in that is exciting – green cement, reverse vending machines, affordable housing.

“The climate crisis is like a war that is going on right now – with every flood and every fire you are seeing where the battles are being fought.”

Meaden added: “Organisations huge, medium and small want to do the right thing and people have woken up to their own power, but pensions are a funny thing – they deal with something we do not want to deal with when we are young, which is being old.

“We must push further than telling people their money is in a sustainable pot. Businesses have a responsibility to talk about pensions.”

Offering sustainable pensions is “not good enough” anymore, she added.

“It’s got to come off the website and it’s got to come off the page and be tangible,” Meaden said. “We need to talk about it, bring it to life, make it part of everyday conversation and make it exciting.

“In a world where you are wondering what you can do, this can make you feel powerful.”

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