Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Benedict Lumberjack the the villainous CEO of a company using UK pension savers’ money to destroy the world’s forests for profit.
The spoof feature created by Lucky Generals for Make My Money Matter, the movement co-founded by UK filmmaker, Richard Curtis, reveals the twisted truth behind how pension funds invest our savings. It follows on from last year’s viral sensation fronted by OIivia Colman as Oblivia Coalmine to spotlight the industry’s ties to fossil fuel companies.
The campaign aims to raise public awareness of the role the UK pensions industry plays in financing the companies driving the climate and nature crises.
Make My Money Matter hopes that Benedict’s hard-hitting performance will make a lasting impression for both savers and industry alike, and spark action at the pace and scale needed to address the crisis before it’s too late. Pension holders can contact their employer to green their workplace pension via the campaign website here.
The campaign launches with only one year to go before the 2025 deadline set by the United Nations to eliminate commodity-driven deforestation***.
The deforestation crisis has worsened, with global rainforest loss happening at a rate of 10 football pitches per minute last year****, and half of the Amazon rainforest could reach tipping point, inducing large-scale collapse, in 25 years’ time if urgent action is not taken now.***** According to Amazon Watch, this year the Amazon experienced its worst fire season in the past two decades due to agribusiness, animal agriculture and unprecedented droughts, with more than 1,800 incidents recorded.
Over £300 billion of pension fund investments are in companies with a high risk of driving deforestation, yet Make My Money Matter’s 2024 Climate Action Report found that the UK pensions industry is still failing to seriously tackle these links.* 2/3 of the largest workplace pension providers do not have a public deforestation policy, including major brands Royal London, Scottish Widows, and Standard Life. This lack of progress is echoed in Global Canopy’s 2023 Deforestation Action Tracker******, a stocktake of action on deforestation by more than 700 financial institutions around the world, which found that 75% did not have a public deforestation policy.
This is despite public appetite for action, with over half of UK savers believing that the industry should publish policies and become deforestation-free and thinking the government should introduce a law requiring it of pension funds.**
Make My Money Matter is urging individuals and organisations to join the demand for deforestation-free pensions via their website here.
Danny Brooke-Taylor, co-founder Lucky Generals, commented, “It’s time to turn up the heat on the pension companies that invest our savings into the destruction of the rainforests.”
Izzy Howden, senior campaign manager, Make My Money Matter, added,“Benedict Lumberjack shows us the dark truth that our money is being used to destroy the planet and the future we’re saving for. It has never been more clear: our pension funds are failing us. They should be protecting our retirement, but instead they continue to invest our money in the companies causing deforestation and profiting from the climate and nature crises. We need urgent action now – before it’s too late.”
*Make My Money Matter Climate Action Report 2024
** Result derived from polling conducted by Censuswide in July 2024 of 2,002 nationally representative adults with a pension
**** World Resources Institute Global Forest Review
***** https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06970-0
****** Global Canopy Deforestation Action Tracker November 2023
Credits:
Agency: Lucky Generals
Production Company: Academy Films
Director: Sophia Ray
Executive Producer: Darapen Vongsa-Nga
Producer: Sophie Peskin
Production Manager: Colum Ewart
DOP: Ben Todd Production
Designer: Christopher Melgram
1ST AD: Julian Richards
Editing: The Quarry
Editor: Geri Docherty
Overseen by Paul Watts
Post-Production: Black Kite
Colourist: Rich Fearon
VFX Shoot Supervisor: Jonny Freeman
VFX Lead: Marcus Moffatt
Executive Producer: Tamara Mennell
Audio: NO8
Sound Engineer: Sam Robson
Audio Producer: Karen Noden
