What your choice of bank has to do with environmental protection

Choosing your own bank. This may be a topic that you have never associated with sustainability and environmental protection. I haven't really dealt with this aspect of my life for a long time. When I set up my current account, the most important thing for me was that there were no account management fees and it was app friendly. In addition, it was natural to just open an account where friends and family already had one.

Maybe some of you feel the same way. But first and foremost, it was important that the choice of my bank was practical for me personally  . At that time, I didn't even know what banks actually do with our money, what is in the account. It is not just there, it works continuously. They invest our money. Conventional banks do this, unfortunately mostly in questionable and very critical industries. These include things like nuclear and coal-fired power plants, animal testing, food speculation and even financial support for corrupt regimes. Coal power in particular is incredibly harmful to the climate. Coal is the largest CO2 emitter in the energy mix. The burning of coal is responsible for much of our contemporary greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to global warming.Anyone who has their account with a bank that has been proven to support such industries is using their own money to finance climate-damaging and ethically questionable projects.

Choosing a sustainable bank, or switching to one, is therefore one of the most effective and effective steps we can take as individuals. To make the whole thing a little more understandable, let's take a look at the individual aspects that are particularly important for us as customers.

Where can I find out how my current bank uses my money?

There are different approaches here. You can try to find information on your bank's website or in its financial statements. Most banks, however, have no intention of making this data transparent and easily accessible. Of course you can also try to ask an employee or call directly. Unfortunately, I was not very lucky with my current bank at this point, was often forwarded and in the end I gave up myself because nobody could really say anything. Finally, I came across the so-called disclosure report online. Every bank has to publish it, but as a layperson, it is not much more revealing than the imprecise telephone statements.

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What exactly is a sustainable bank?

To be on the safe side that your own money is not being used day and night to finance (literally) dirty projects, switching to a proven sustainable bank is the best way. These banks have certain exclusion criteria that determine whether they support a project or not. Here, money flows into sustainable visions , such as wind power and solar energy , micro credits for small business owners, afforestation of rain forests, but also into social projects. These banks also attach great importance to transparency and make easily accessible on their websites where the money of the customers is invested. I had initially thought the Co-Operative Bank was the only the ethical bank in the UK but with a little more digging I also found Nationwide and HSBC have some good investments.

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How can I switch?

Fortunately, the change is very easy in most cases. The new bank often offers a so-called " moving service ". Pop down to the local branch or make a quick call to them directly. The bank should then take care of ensuring that everyone who needs your new account information is informed and that your other standing orders are automatically switched to the new account. However, since this does not always work properly, you should keep the old account running for a few weeks and also leave it sufficiently covered.

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