Young people starting their first job should be automatically enrolled in a sustainable pension, the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) has argued. UKSIF-commissioned polling shows millennials that want their savings to make a positive impact as well as making money and UKSIF is now urging MPs to support sustainable auto-enrolment.

Since the introduction of auto-enrolment, the number of UK workers saving into a pension scheme has risen to 84 per cent and UK workers now invest over £100bn a year, but a recent poll commissioned by UKSIF for Good Money Week showed that the majority of people do not know where their pensions are invested.

None-the-less, two-thirds of 18-25s care just as much about their money making a positive difference as they do about making money, and almost a third care more about making a difference than about making money. UKSIF told the Commons Treasury Select Committee, which is investigating sustainability and finance (full video on this site), that the public increasingly expect financial services to play a role in supporting the shift to a more sustainable economy.

Simon Howard, Chief Executive of UKSIF, said: “We know millennials care deeply about the environment, yet their pensions are often invested in companies that pollute the environment and contribute to climate change. Sustainable auto-enrolment would give people a pension system that respects their values and it would boost sustainable finance in the UK. It would allow people to save for the future without selling it short.”

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