More than half (51 per cent) of savers want their pension investments to be both environmentally and socially sustainable, increasing to 60 per cent amongst Millennial savers, research from Cushon has revealed.

The survey also found that there were many misconceptions as to the regulation of pension investments, however, with almost half (48 per cent) of savers wrongly believing that pensions can only be invested in companies that do not have a negative impact on the environment, or unsure if there are rules around this.

In addition to this, 13 per cent of savers thought that it was illegal for employers to put their money into an investment that contributes to climate change, while 45 per cent thought that there should be rules about the impact of pension investments on climate change.

Commenting on the findings, Cushon founder and CEO, Ben Pollard, said: “People clearly want their pensions to be a force for good, and to have a positive impact on things they feel strongly about.

“With all this confusion and misunderstanding, pension providers need to work faster to enable savers to have their voices heard and to align investments with fundamental issues like the fight against climate change.

“It’s easy to overlook the power of your pension, but UK pension funds control over £2.5trn of assets. Private markets in the US spent around £15bn building Tesla which is now worth over a trillion dollars. The UK pensions industry could have built Tesla 170 times over."

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