Pensions - Actors urge chancellor to boost green investment with overhaul

Leading British actors including Mark Rylance, Olivia Colman, and Benedict Cumberbatch have called on the chancellor to increase investment in clean energy by reforming pensions.

- Nadia Khomami

Members of the performing arts union Equity have written an open letter to Rachel Reeves before her Mansion House speech today asking her to make "smart, strategic reforms" that could unlock £1.2tn from the pensions sector for growing clean energy and infrastructure in the UK.

Other notable signatories include Stephen Fry, Jodie Whittaker, Paapa Essiedu, Alex Lawther, Freddie Fox, Ritu Arya, Will Attenborough, Leila Mimmack and Tom Burke.

The letter celebrates Equity moving its £130m pension scheme to a fund with extensive fossil fuel exclusions - making it the first trade union in the UK to offer its 50,000 members a "fossil fuel-free" default fund.

"This progress isn't just good for our planet and our pockets - it's hugely popular, too," the signatories say.

"Research, by Make My Money Matter, shows that just one in five people in the UK believe their retirement savings should invest in fossil fuel developers. By contrast, two-thirds of all British pension holders want their scheme to invest in clean energy."