Do you know if your money is doing more harm than good?
This blog was distributed to our first 250+ backers via email and published on Linkedin.
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Barry Coates, founder of Mindful Money, sat down with us to talk sustainability, impact investing, and why your KiwiSaver might be a missed opportunity.
What are we really investing in?
There’s no doubt that impact investing is on the rise in New Zealand, and globally. There’s a bit more doubt around whether it’s growing fast enough - and that’s something Barry Coates feels very strongly about.
Mindful Money is a charity that helps New Zealanders understand where their money is going. Like Regenerate NZ, it’s a movement that got started when Barry realised no one else was going to tackle the issue.
“People often don’t think about the connection between their investment and real-world outcomes,” says Barry.
“When they get a KiwiSaver fund, they have no idea what happens to their money, the companies they're investing in, what their money is funding. That means a lot of people inadvertently end up doing harm in the world when they could be doing good.”
And with NZD $90 billion sitting in KiwiSaver alone (some of which is probably yours), the potential impact is huge. Whether that impact is positive is up to us.
Greening up our act
While Europe has made significant process in impact investment, New Zealand, Australia, the US and UK are lagging behind.
“I think our industry in New Zealand is more conservative, with a few honourable exceptions. It’s that old concept of ‘the business of business is business’ and we shouldn’t worry about the impact on society or the environment..
“Meanwhile, we're sitting here having this interview during another wild weather episode. These have been getting worse and worse, and my fear is that humans will leave it til the last minute before doing anything.”
The good news? According to Mindful Money’s annual surveys, more New Zealanders than ever are choosing ethical funds. What’s more, we believe that when we choose those options, the long term results will be higher.
“What we've seen is a growing movement of people who are saying, ‘I want to invest my money in something that I really care about’. That includes human rights, health care and social housing, but also regenerating forests and rivers and oceans.”
From fossil fuels to forestry
Over the years, Barry has seen the shift in language from pollution to global warming to climate change - and one of the things he believes we tend to overlook is the importance of ecological integrity.
“People forget about how important the functioning of ecosystems is. Not only on local levels but across water catchments, across whole forest systems, and then across regional and global systems.”
It raises real questions like:
Should we be planting pine?
Where are the proper forest management rules from governments?
Why are we paying so much money through the Emissions Trading Scheme for pine, and not for native forests that have benefits for biodiversity and water quality?
“Public policy, tax breaks for individuals, improvements to the Emissions Trading Scheme… These are the kind of areas where we'll find avenues for positive impact.”
It starts with us
When it comes to sustainability, there’s a lot of greenwashing and ‘inventive’ marketing out there. But while there aren’t many billboards shouting about impact investing, turns out people are still talking to people.
“The way people learn about investing is often through conversations. It’s someone saying ‘Hey, I just went on to this website and changed my KiwiSaver in 10 minutes. I feel really good about it, go and try it’.
“Through creating those opportunities for connection and education, people are starting to become aware of issues like forest regeneration.”
That’s definitely been our experience with Regenerate NZ. One person has talked to two people who’ve talked to two more, and over time we’ve built a community.
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Barry Coates is working for a fairer, more inclusive and sustainable Aotearoa, New Zealand. He is the founder and CEO at Mindful Money who's mission is to make money a force for good.
This article was created with support from Regenerate New Zealand who has a 100 year vision to profitably invest in regenerating New Zealand forests. You can read more about the progress towards the 100 year vision here.
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Arohanui,
The team at Regenerate NZ
Interviewed by Jonny McKenzie and co-authored with Sarah Stevens
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This blog was distributed to our first 250+ backers via email and published on Linkedin.
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