Green super can help cut household carbon footprint

Switching superannuation options to green options could halve the carbon footprint of Australia’s households and that there was an unprecedented opportunity to address climate change through their super savings, according to Australian Ethical, and member of parliament Zali Steggall.

According to Australian Ethical, new calculations showed that if every single person in Australia had put their super into a climate-friendly fund, it would collectively result in a carbon footprint reduction that is equal to half the household emissions across all of Australia.

Australian Ethical calculated that the difference between putting Australia’s $3 trillion pool of super into a climate-friendly fund, versus one that was not, was equivalent to a lower carbon footprint of around 78 million tons of carbon (CO2e) per year.

John McMurdo, chief executive of Australian Ethical, said that opening Australians’ eyes to where your money was being invested and making a change could be the fastest and most impactful thing every Australian could do to help solve the climate crisis.

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“It can sometimes feel like the fate of our planet rests on individual people taking lots of small actions. But instead of just saying no to using harmful products and services, we can also use our money to remove support for their production in the first place, creating an enormous collective difference,” he said.

Zali Steggall MP, Federal Member for Warringah, said he believed that leveraging money to combat the greatest challenge of our times is the most sensible thing individuals could do.

“Transferring funds to an ethical funds manager is a clear way for individuals to reduce their own emissions and broader environmental impacts whilst at the same time benefitting from these funds high average performance. It’s a win-win,” he said.