English actress Olivia Colman is best known for her Oscar-winning role in The Favourite as well as many other parts in movies and beloved TV shows. For her latest role, she is aiming to draw attention to how heavily pension funds are invested in the dirty energy companies that are destroying our planet.
Ever wondered what your pension gets up to when you're not looking?​
— Make My Money Matter (@MMMoneyMatter) November 28, 2023
Meet Oblivia Coalmine 🔥​#FrackingHell pic.twitter.com/okqxpaI8Yo
Produced and posted by Make My Money Matter (@MMMoneyMatter), a UK-based nonprofit that "helps retail investors to integrate sustainability into their investment decisions," the spot features Colman as her evil alter ego, Oblivia Coalmine, satirically thanking all of the UK's many pension funds "on behalf of the fossil fuel industries."
"People like you have pumped billions of your hard-earned pounds into our gas and oil businesses," Oblivia Coalmine says. "The cash from your pensions has helped dig, drill, and destroy more of the planet than ever before."
This is not only a problem in the UK. According to nonprofit Stand.earth, pension funds are one of the largest institutional investors in planet-overheating dirty energy, with an incredible 30% of dirty energy company shares being held by pension funds. "Our tax dollars and retirement funds are being used to support the powerful coal, oil, and gas companies that are causing the climate crisis, polluting our communities, and violating Indigenous rights and sovereignty," the organization writes.
Oil and gas companies, like ExxonMobil and others, have been among the biggest contributors to environmental destruction, all while attempting to hide the truth from the public about the harm they have caused, lobbying against laws that would protect the environment, and making empty promises about a desire to do better.
As Oblivia Coalmine puts it, "so, while the global temperature may go up a teensy weensy degree or two, our profits are literally soaring."
Make My Money Matter includes a section on its website that makes it easy for people to contact their pension fund provider and demand that it divest from dirty energy.
The mostly English commenters on the video largely displayed a bizarre fealty to the environment-destroying dirty energy companies, but some cheered the message of the video.
"Wow, this is such a creative way to educate people about pensions! Love the character Oblivia Coalmine, she's really bringing attention to an important issue. Great work!" wrote one.
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