PensionBee has launched a new planet-positive pension plan for retirement savers wanting to do good with their money.
The Climate Plan will replace the popular Fossil Fuel-Free Plan, which was one of the UK’s first mainstream private pension plans to completely exclude companies with proven or probable reserves in oil, gas or coal when it launched in 2020.
The new “upgraded” plan continues to exclude fossil fuels but goes a step further by also pro-actively investing in companies at the forefront of the transition to a low carbon economy.
A spokesperson for PensionBee, a Good With Money ‘Good Egg’ company, said: “At PensionBee, we’re committed to listening to our customers, therefore, we’ve been closely working with one of the world’s largest money managers, State Street Global Advisors, to create a new upgraded plan that reflects our customers’ views.
“By investing in this plan, your pension would increasingly be investing in companies that are at the forefront of the transition to a low carbon economy, and those positioned to mitigate risk and capture the financial opportunities that it brings.”
Adding to fossil fuels commitment
The Climate Plan adds to the previous plan’s commitment not to invest in fossil fuels by tightening its exclusions. It will not invest in companies that have “ties to fossil fuels based on revenues, power generation and reserves”.
This is because companies without fossil fuel reserves can still have significant exposure to fossil fuels; for example many utility companies use fossil fuel-based power generation but don’t own the reserves themselves.
The move comes in response to feedback from PensionBee customers that they wanted to send a stronger message to big polluters by excluding fossil fuel producers and other sectors while also investing in companies better prepared for the shift to a low carbon economy.
A survey in February 2024 revealed that 98 per cent of customers on the Fossil Fuel-Free Plan wanted to add more fossil fuel screens to their pension and 62 per cent wanted to cut down exposure to carbon intensive industries over time by investing more in green revenues.
The Climate Plan follows the ‘EU Paris-aligned’ benchmark, which is aligned to the Paris Agreement goal to limit the rise in global temperatures since pre-industrial levels to well below 2°C.
Like the Fossil Fuel Plan, the Climate Plan is 100 per cent invested in equities (company shares) and therefore considered a higher-risk option than PensionBee’s other plans. The annual management fee remains at 0.75 per cent of your pension balance. This fee is halved on any amount in your pot over £100,000.
Find out more about the Climate Plan here.
Risk warning: As always with investments, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment can go down as well as up, and you may get back less than you invest.
