Through our pension schemes we own almost a fifth of British companies. This gives pension schemes enormous influence over company behaviour on environmental and social issues.

Companies have a huge impact on people and the environment: their attitude to climate change, child labour, or arms sales can affect the lives of millions. Despite this, few pension schemes ever raise such issues with the companies they own.

This is not a a choice between ethics and financial returns. In fact, ignoring “ethical issues” could harm investments in the long term (for example, climate change regulations will have an impact on big polluters, and revelations of human rights abuses are likely to harm sales).

Use this page to show your pension scheme that their members want them to be environmentally, socially and financially responsible: it is, after all, your money.