How women can save (for) the planet: My talk at TEDxLondonWomen 2023.

I was honoured to speak at TEDxLondonWomen in February 2023 at Sadler’s Wells. More on the experience itself to follow soon, but in the meantime, here’s what I said…

EDIT 08/03/23: The talk recording is now live! Have a watch and let me know what you think. (Be kind..!)

“The climate crisis is here: it’s big, it’s urgent, it’s real, it’s now. We know this. We’re seeing it in forest fires in California, droughts in Spain, and flooding that’s devastated millions of lives in Pakistan. We know something has to change, we want to do something, but when the forces we need to influence are so much bigger than ourselves, what can we do?

There are so many of us taking actions every single day in support of the planet. But what if there was one thing that could have one of the biggest positive impacts on the planet — and most of us weren’t doing it? Something that is 21 times more powerful than stopping flying, going vegetarian and changing energy supplier — combined?

I’m talking about the choices we make with our money.

In the words of environmentalist Bill McKibben, “Money is the oxygen on which the fire of global warming burns”.

Scientists around the world have categorically stated that to avert climate disaster we need to rapidly phase out fossil fuels: now. That means no new coal, no new oil, no new gas.

And yet… When we follow the money we see that:

• Mainstream banks around the world have invested >$4.6trillion in fossil fuel expansion since the Paris Agreement on climate was signed in 2016. (1)
• Investments from UK pension schemes enable the release of 330 million tonnes of carbon every year. That’s more than the country’s entire carbon footprint. (2)

When we follow the money, we see that our financial institutions are NOT banking on our future.

So what can we do about that? Well, this is our money. Our money is being put to work every single day. Every one of us who engages with a financial institution — that’s those of us with a bank account, a pension, an investment — has power that we’re sitting on right now.

We can demand change. We can make choices to move our money away from institutions who continue to back climate destruction and towards institutions who are placing our planet’s future at the forefront of their mission.

Studies from Make My Money Matter, [Aviva, Route2 and WWF] show that switching towards a greener pension is up to 21x more powerful for climate impact than stopping flying, going vegetarian, or changing energy supplier, combined (3)

– I’ll say that once more – switching towards a greener pension is up to 21x more powerful for climate impact.

We collectively have a critical role to play to show financial institutions and governments that we want our money used to create a climate positive future, not used to destroy the planet and to destroy people’s lives.

By moving our money (what we call divesting) AND engaging with these institutions, we take away the permission we’re giving these companies to continue with business as usual.

And this type of people power — hitting companies’ bottom lines and reputations — works.

In 2022, Lloyds Bank — one of the 5 major UK banks — committed to no longer providing direct financing to fossil fuel projects as part of a new climate policy. (4)

Just a few weeks later HSBC announced they are ending funding for new oil and gas fields. (5)

There are still BIG steps these institutions need to take, but it’s a start — the rules of the game can be changed — and we need to keep the pressure up.

Not only does this type of people power work, fossil fuel companies feel it.

Shell have said that divestment could have “a material adverse effect” on their operations. (6)

People power works. And for every one of us — we have power in our pockets, our plastic and our pensions to vote for the climate future we want.

But as women — 51% of human kind, when it comes to money, we’re not using our power.

There is a huge financial gap for women — from the financial decisions we make, with the majority of women leaving their long-term financial decisions to a husband or spouse (7), to how much money we actually are set to have in the long run — for example a woman in her 20s in the UK is likely to have £100,000 less at retirement than a man of the same age (8).

This gender finance gap is no surprise — given that many women weren’t allowed to own credit cards or get a mortgage without the signature of a man in countries like the US and the UK until as recently as the 1970s, and in some cases even the 1980s (9, 10). One of the reasons for that is because women were seen as these delicate creatures who weren’t capable of understanding important intellectual things like finance.

Over the last few years there’s been a huge amount of attention in the press, in social media, in business, on female financial empowerment. How women can own their worth, and make more money.

So much of the messaging I see is about being empowered to save and invest for your future, which IS important, but every time I see that I can’t help but think: What’s the point of getting rich on a planet that’s on fire?

And when it comes to the climate crisis, women are disproportionately affected; according to the UN 80% of people displaced by climate disasters like floods and droughts, are women and girls.

Women need to be at the forefront of climate leadership.

So how do we, as women, use the power we have, and put our money to work for the planet?

The truth is that for many of us, both financial systems and climate change, can feel abstract, complex and overwhelming.

If it was just a case of ‘know better do better’ then we’d have done it by now.

But for many of us — especially women who often feel patronised and alienated by financial systems — we need more than just information alone.

What if, instead of the overwhelm, we felt… lightness, empathy, joy?

What if, instead of trying to make sense of all this and take action alone, we did it with a little help from our friends..?

That’s exactly what we’ve been doing with Money Movers.

A movement of women coming together in groups around dinner tables and zoom rooms to talk about money and take climate action together. It’s a simple initiative; women volunteer and are trained up to host these groups with their friends and their neighbours, and create fun, brave, supportive spaces. Over 3 weeks women learn with each other and from each other and start to dig deeper into these systems.

You don’t need to be a millionaire or a banker or even have much money to take part in Money Movers; if you have a bank account or a pension, this is for you.

It’s incredible to see the journey women go on, from feeling daunted, overwhelmed, alone, to the buzz and power we feel when we actually start to get our heads around this stuff.

Through this social, peer-support model, there’s a momentum that’s created, that helps you go from a good intention — thinking that maybe you should look into what your bank is doing with your money — to actually making changes, for example, switching bank accounts, moving your pension to a greener fund, or making an investment in something like a community energy scheme.

And I can tell you first hand that when you’ve done it, and you’ve moved your money, supported by a group of women, you feel like a BADASS.

When it comes to climate action, this works! So far in our pilots 140 women have moved £1.2million for the planet and EVERY woman has reported feeling more able to align her finances with her values.

I am not an expert in finance; truth be told, until Money Movers I didn’t really have a clue about my pension, but ever since I can remember, I have felt the sharp sting of injustice, because I’ve seen what happens when women and people of marginalised genders are at the mercy of men and powers that be making decisions about their lives, both personally and politically.

I have also seen women sharing power with each other to protect each other and their families from these forces in so many ways. For example, through gold, which in my culture and many cultures is passed on from woman to woman throughout generations to give them at least some financial freedom, so that they can choose what happens with their lives and their futures.

In a similar way, we have an opportunity as women to keep sharing power amongst ourselves, in the form of knowledge about financial systems. We have an opportunity to keep learning, to keep questioning, and to keep choosing to use our money to protect the planet.

At Money Movers, we’re on a mission to grow this movement, so that we have 1000s of women coming together with each other — and yes — also with the men in our lives — to use our power and collectively vote with our money for the climate future we want to see; a future we feel proud to pass on to our children and generations to come.

When it comes to the climate crisis, our money is powerful. And we can’t leave it up to those already in power to do the right thing with it.

The climate crisis needs all of us — especially women. When we take action collectively, we have so much more power than we could possibly imagine.

So let’s use that power and move our money for the planet.”

• Find out more about Money Movers by heading to: wearemoneymovers.com and join our mailing list. We’ll be opening registration for new Money Movers Hosts in March 2023!
• Want to support us to reach 1000s more women? Become one of our first backers.
• All of our work at Money Movers builds on the work of many others who have come before us, and who are working alongside us for a climate-positive economy and women’s climate leadership. (Who else would you add to this list?) A bit shout out in particular to Friends of the Earth, who originally came up with the idea for Money Movers, and Huddlecraft, whose tried-and-tested peer-powered methodology for learning and change has turned a great idea into tangible impact.
• You can also follow Money Movers on socials on Twitter, Insta and LinkedIn.