Banks fund plastic crisis as DiCaprio helps Galapagos

Written by Lori Campbell on 24th May 2021

Banks are funding the plastic crisis with just 20 firms producing more than half of the world’s plastic waste, a new report finds, as Leonardo DiCaprio donates $43 million to help preserve endangered wildlife on the Galapagos Islands. Meanwhile, 50 major companies including IKEA and Oxfam join the world’s first ‘Green pensions charter’ from the Make My Money Matter campaign, Starling Bank campaigns for gender equality in how women are pictured with money in the media, and a large section of the Greenland ice sheet approaches the ‘point of no return’. It’s the Good With Money weekly news brief.

Banks fund firms producing 55% of world’s plastic waste

Just twenty companies produce more than HALF of all the single-use plastic waste in the world, new research reveals.

Their plastic production is funded by leading banks, including Barclays, HSBC, Bank of America, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase.

The Plastic Waste Makers index reveals for the first time the companies producing the polymers that become throwaway plastic items, from face masks to plastic bags and bottles. At the end of their short life they are burned, thrown into landfill, or left to pollute the oceans.

Australia tops the list of countries for generating the most single-use plastic waste on a per capita basis, ahead of the United States, South Korea and Britain.

ExxonMobil is the greatest single-use plastic waste polluter in the world, contributing 5.9 million tonnes to the global waste mountain, the analysis by the Minderoo Foundation says. The largest chemicals company in the world, US-based Dow, created 5.5 million tonnes of plastic waste while China’s oil and gas enterprise Sinopec created 5.3 million tonnes.

Leonardo DiCaprio pledges $43m to preserve Galapagos Islands

Leonardo DiCaprio is donating $43 million (£30.2 million) to help save endangered wildlife on the Galapagos Islands.

The Hollywood actor’s social media accounts will be taken over by experts on rewilding efforts on the islands, which are among the most biodiverse habitats on Earth.

The initiative is in partnership with Re:wild, a conservation charity that DiCaprio recently co-founded, and will be based on decades of local conservation efforts, Ecuador’s Ministry of Environment and Water said.

Its aim is to preserve the endangered wildlife and environment of the islands, as well as those of all Latin American Pacific archipelagos. The money will fund operations to restore Floreana Island, which is home to 54 threatened species. It will help to reintroduce 13 locally extinct species, including the Floreana mockingbird, the first mockingbird described by Charles Darwin during his 1835 visit to the Galapagos.

How to meet ALL of the 17 global goals with your own money!

Major companies opt for greener pensions under ‘world first’ charter

Filmmaker Richard Curtis’ Make My Money Matter campaign has launched a ‘Green Pensions Charter’, where major companies will urge their pension providers to use a green scheme.

IKEA, EY, Octopus Group and Oxfam are among 50 first signatories of the charter and are also encouraging pension providers to commit to net zero targets in the lead up to COP26.

League Two football club Forest Green Rovers has pledged to go a step further by ensuring its pension does not invest in industries that harm the planet.

Richard Curtis said: “The launch of the world’s first Green Pensions Charter brings together a pioneering mix of brands, organisations and even football teams all of whom have one thing in common – a commitment to make their money matter. 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 UK pension schemes must be invested in ways which build a healthy planet, as well as deliver healthy returns.”

Find out how to be proud of YOUR pension with our Good Guide to Pensions

Starling campaigns for changes in how women are pictured with money

Stark inequalities in the way women and men are pictured with money in the media have been revealed in a new report by Starling Bank and Brunel University.

The study, which looked at 600 images from three leading image libraries, found that women were four times more likely to be depicted as childlike with their money (15 per cent compared to just four per cent of men’s images). Women are mainly pictured holding coins, often pennies, and putting these in piggy banks or savings jars (24 per cent, versus just eight per cent for men).

Men, meanwhile, are most likely to be found holding notes (53 per cent, versus 44 per cent), and counting or showing off this money while socialising with friends (19 per cent compared to four per cent).

Anne Boden, founder and CEO of Starling Bank, said: “We need fewer piggy banks and pennies, more instances of women taking the lead, and greater diversity overall. These depictions really matter. They negatively affect not only how people are treated, but also how they feel about themselves in terms of money, which is typically used to symbolise power, influence and freedom.”

Get on the path to #EqualWealth with our Good Guide to Investing for Women

Greenland ice sheet reaching major tipping point

A large section of the Greenland ice sheet is nearing a devastating tipping point, according to new research.

Rising temperatures caused by the climate crisis have already seen trillions of tonnes of Greenland’s ice pour into the ocean. The ice sheet melting completely would eventually raise global sea levels by as much as seven metres.

The new analysis detected a major tipping point in a 140-year record of ice-sheet height and melting rates in the Jakobshavn basin, one of the five biggest – and fastest melting – basins in Greenland. Scientists say, if reached, it will be the ‘point of no return’ where accelerated melting will become inevitable even if global heating is halted.

“We’re at the brink, and every year with CO₂ emissions continuing as usual exponentially increases the probability of crossing the tipping point,” said Niklas Boers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, who conducted the research with Martin Rypdal from the Arctic University of Norway.