News and Analysis | Richard Ravelin | June 7, 2022

World Environment Day

Last weekend marked the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee where millions of people across the UK and Commonwealth came together to celebrate Her Majesty’s 70-year reign. Sunday, however, was also important for another reason: it was World Environment Day. 

Set up by the United Nations’ Environment Programme, World Environment Day aims to raise awareness and encourage people to come together to ‘celebrate, protect and restore the planet’. It was hosted by Sweden, the same nation whose capital, Stockholm, held the first global environment summit 50 years ago. 

Organisers say despite agreements and commitments being made by world leaders since that event, progress is too slow and not enough is being done to stop climate change. They’re calling for governments and private sector companies to make big changes.

And that’s where Path comes in. As the first – and only – financial adviser set up with positive impact at the heart of all we do, we give guidance and help to customers on their savings, investments and pensions, but we do it in a way which doesn’t harm the planet.

We do this by going beyond ethical to impact investing, meaning our client’s money is invested in deep green funds and companies. You can even see our green credentials as we were recently awarded B Corp status.

But it’s not just those activities which show how planet-friendly we are, as we have many great testimonials from our clients and customers. 

Take Becky and Roy, for example, who live in Seaford, southern England. Becky worked as a senior project manager in the NHS for more than three decades, while her husband, Roy, was a community family worker. After researching an ethical investment firm, the couple came across Path and haven’t looked back since.

They said:

We found Path through an internet search and came across a list of ethical financial advisers. We didn’t want our pension invested in anything that was causing harm – fossil fuels, weapons, anything like that. 

Before that, we had had meetings with other financial advisers and they had been quite dismissive – one had even told us we might as well give our money to Greenpeace. We had been given the impression that there was nothing like Path out there which is why we are so pleased to have found them.

53-year-old Mary, from Plymouth, is another Path customer. She decided to re-evaluate her finances after coming out of a long-term relationship.

She said:

I decided to take a closer look at my finances following the breakdown of a long-term relationship. I’ve always managed my own money, but hadn’t properly sat down and looked at my financial situation for a very long time – probably 20 years or so. I was long overdue for a financial overhaul – I wanted to consolidate my three pensions to get everything in one fund, and I was very keen to go for a green, sustainable option.

Deciding who to trust with your finances is such an important decision. I wanted to be certain that I was going with an advisor who I could trust and who was actually as ethical as they appeared to be. I did a lot of research, and finally came across Path last year through an article in The Guardian.

So, with World Environment Day and the ongoing warnings over the rise in global temperatures, there has never been a better time to have a look at your finances and see if one of our advisers can make them green.

If it’s a pension pot you want advice on, an investment or some savings, one of our trusted team at Path can offer help and support so you know your money is being invested in the right way and helping the planet.