How ethical is your pension?19 February 2013
Land grabs are on the rise. Western companies are buying up huge areas of farmland in the world's poorest countries. In Africa an area the size of Kenya has already been snatched up by foreign companies.
These dodgy deals often ignore local land rights. People are left with no way to grow food or support themselves.
Land grabbing and you
Worryingly your pension could be bankrolling these land grabs. Pension companies are said to be the largest institutional investors in farmland worldwide - investing £10 billion already.
Help find out more
Please write to your pension company - if you have one - and ask if they're investing in land grabs. As a customer you have the right to ask for information. What you find out will be invaluable for the campaign.
We've listed some of the biggest pension providers below. Unfortunately we couldn't cover them all.
If the name of your pension provider is below please click through to send them an email.
If you can't see the name of your pension provider please find the email for customer services on their website and copy and paste the text below.
Please forward any response you receive from your pension fund to [email protected]. Please also let us know if your pension fund doesn't respond to you within two weeks.
Some popular pension companies
- AVIVA
- BAE Systems 2000 Pension Plan
- Barclays Bank UK Retirement Fund
- BP plc Pension Fund
- BT plc Pension Fund
- Electricity Supply Pension Scheme
- Friends Life
- Legal and General PLC
- National Grid Pension Scheme DB
- Prudential
- Railways Pension Scheme
- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Pension Fund
- Royal Mail Pension Trustees Ltd
- Santander ISA
- Scottish Equitable
- Scottish Life
- Standard Life
- Universities Superannuation Scheme Ltd
- Virgin Money
Email to copy and paste
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have followed with interest the developing debate about the rise in large-scale land acquisitions in the Global South. In a number of cases these land grabs are generating conflicts and controversy. For investors in new land acquisitions, such conflicts and controversy can generate material financial risks.
Pension funds are amongst the largest institutional investors in farmland worldwide. As a pension saver, I have both financial and ethical concerns that part of my pension savings could be invested in land acquisitions with poorly managed risks.
Could you please let me know about the [NAME OF YOUR PENSION FUND]'s exposure to investments in agricultural land, both direct investments and those via publicly and privately listed companies? I would like to understand what safeguards are in place to limit the risks of these types of investments and activities?
Yours sincerely,
YOUR NAME
© Friends of the Earth International
