By Lauren Peacock, Campaign Manager

I love my job. I get to work on something I'm passionate about while challenging the status quo of the financial industry. Every day I learn more about climate change and its impact on the financial sector, especially pensions.Educating people  about the impact of climate change and encouraging decision makers in the pensions industry to do something about it is wholesome work.  It is tough though.

Why?

We know we only have a  decade to reverse climate change  and only a few months to make some serious changes to our economies before it is too late. Even though I'm trying to do something about it in my day job, sitting at a computer and going to meetings often does not feel like enough given the scale and urgency of the crisis. It does not help that financial institutions are very slow to change and take action on the issue.

In my private life, I'm also trying to  reduce my meat and dairy intake and at the start of this year, I pledged not to fly. Even this does not feel like enough though and that's because climate change is systemic and requires serious government action.

Global climate strike on 20 September

Led by union members, many employees at ShareAction will be striking on 20 September as part of the Global Climate Strike, although the ShareAction office will remain open. We would like people at other organisations, big and small, to join us. It might seem strange for an organisation working on climate change to strike but there is an urgent need for public mobilisation to show support for policy change. ShareAction is part of a network of other NGOs, investors and companies who all require vision and ambition from government on climate.

I am very fortunate to work for an organisation which agreed to support the strike, and I am proud of ShareAction for this. Our work is systemic in nature and aims to change company behaviour through the power of the investment system. I encourage everyone to ask more questions about their pension, as our pension investments are largely responsible for propping up the world we live in.

Get involved

Not everyone will work somewhere which is so supportive. There is lots of advice on the  Global Climate Strike  website and  Friends of the Earth have many resources about how to get involved, whatever your situation.

ShareAction will be joining protestors across London on the day of the strike, as well as promoting the power of our pensions in the fight against climate change.

Thanks Lauren! To learn more about your money's role in climate change, click here.