I am beyond disappointed that the new grow investment section is filled with some of the worlds most unethical and destructive companies. Organisations such as Shell are not only destroying the planet, communities and life on Earth, they are actively spreading misinformation and disinformation about the climate emergency. Investment management companies like Black Rock are bankrolling these destructive companies and you’ve chosen them to manage your funds.
The fossil fuel industry’s strategy is straight out of the tobacco industry’s playbook: rubbishing the science, seeking to destroy the reputation of scientists and their academic institutions and actively lobbying governments for their own interests with no regard for the consequences. Also on your list is British and American Tobacco who wrote the playbook in the first place.
To add to this shameful behaviour, even the ‘Clean Energy’ investment option is not only managed by Black Rock but the product is based overseas so is not subject to UK sustainable investment labelling and disclosure rules designed to prevent greenwashing. On top of this, nearly 40% of this fund is invested in the USA, a country that denies the climate is heating and is deliberately reversing green energy initiatives.
Monzo may not invest directly in such destructive industries so that you get a nice ‘green’ score but you are actively encouraging your customers to invest unethically. This is like handing someone a gun so your prints are on the trigger.
How does this align with Monzo’s environmental commitment no.4 which states:
We don’t invest in fossil-fuels, arms or tobacco companies. Our Treasury is governed by an ESG framework so investments align with our environmental goals.
Monzo seriously needs to reconsider its customer investment offering if it truly wants to be able to uphold its Ethical Commitment.
I would suggest you look at Triodos and their uk offerings if you haven’t already. Also something like Ethex.
Ethical Consumer Magazine also contains adverts for specific financial advisors who specialise in ethical investing.
By the way their commitment in no 4 above refers to them investing, i.e. lending money to fossil fuel companies, it does not refer to third party funds sold via their investing platform
No one is making you invest in them. Also, why do you think if people stop investing in them that they’d stop? Actually, Shell/BP offloaded a lot of assets to companies with worse footprints than them because of pressure from the market - so really pressure only greenwashes their balance sheet rather than makes much change.
In what way? Investment management companies holding their shares are only acting on behalf of people. I guess you mean they might own some debt Shell etc are using to finance their operations?
At the end of the day, Monzo is a bank. It’s here to store your money, not to make investment decisions for you.
You’re kind of proving their point. That article is focused solely on greenhouse gas emissions, which are in fact lower, but doesn’t once mention the wider environmental impact from lithium mining like the freshwater usage in the mining process or groundwater contamination.
Damn, the oil industry shills are going hard in this thread, huh?
FWIW, @Annieecowarrior, I agree with you. If Monzo themselves make it a core commitment not to invest in these things, then they shouldn’t be offering them as investment options for customers. And to turn the most common argument in the thread back around, if people really want to invest in oil, tobacco and weapons, then there are plenty of other places where they can go to do that.
Yes, but Monzo aren’t that daft. They know most people want a return rather than anything else. There are purely ESG orientated banks. Monzo is mainstream. If you want a small provider that only cares about the environment and has literally no other priorities, don’t bank with banks that are catering for 10+m people.