FairPensions is an award-winning campaigning organisation founded in 2005 to promote Responsible Investment in the pensions and investment industry.

Our mission recognises the simple but under-appreciated fact that the trillions of pounds invested in pensions have the power to change our world. The money people save every month for their retirement is the money that pension funds invest in corporations across the world.  Those funds enable companies to go about their business – for better or worse.

At FairPensions we’re concerned with highlighting those business practices that are negligent or harmful to people or the environment, and catalysing action to change them. We’re not against business. But we do believe that a focus on profit must be balanced with social and environmental responsibility to achieve sustainable long-term returns, a healthy financial system and the well-being of our planet.

Bringing together leading charities, trade unions, faith groups and individual investors, our aim is to catalyse a shift in awareness and conduct at each level of the investment chain, so that Responsible Investment becomes the norm.

Through our campaigns, we remind investors that they have both a right to know how their money is being used, as well as the responsibility to voice concerns over the social and environmental impact of their investments. Following through with a series of concrete action steps, information and investor resources, we empower people to get involved and make a difference.

Our research brings transparency to the investment practices of the largest fund managers and pension funds and provides a valuable independent benchmark of progress and best practice. This research and the evidence it produces gives us concrete issues to discuss in our strategy of engagement and consultation with top decision-makers in the pensions industry and in government.

In today’s climate of financial instability, environmental concern and questioning of political ethics, our focus on the impact and transparency of decision-making could not be more timely.

We’re encouraged by the significant changes in practice we've already helped to stimulate and the successes we’ve achieved since our inception, but know there’s still a long way to go before Responsible Investment becomes mainstream. Our dynamic team is committed to continued focused campaigning, cooperation with other organisations and creative use of our resources to see the power of money become a force for social and environmental good.

We believe that:

• Pension funds should actively monitor and manage environmental, social and governance issues
• Pension funds should be accountable to their members, open to dialogue and willing to explain their actions to stakeholders
• Pension funds have a social responsibility that extends beyond their legal responsibilities to their members
• Pension fund members should constitute at least 50% of the board of their fund
• Civil society can be more active in bringing widely-held ethical and moral concerns to bear on the financial sector