World Earth Day: Sustainable Swaps

Move your money

Of course, being from an ethical financial firm, this has to be my number one tip! It’s not the most obvious way of reducing your footprint, but how you save and invest your money makes a huge difference to the climate. In fact, research from the Make My Money Matter campaign shows that the average UK pension has 21x more impact on an individual’s carbon footprint than other lifestyle or behavioural changes. Even things such as reducing car journeys or even going vegan (though you should still do those things as well)! Use World Earth Day to think about the impact that your savings and investments have on the wider world.

Make a pledge

Do Nation is a pledge platform for people wanting to encourage action on climate change and sustainable living amongst their friends, families and colleagues. You sign up as an individual or as a business, and pledge to make small lifestyle changes to help create a better world. Whether it’s taking one less flight this year, composting your food waste or giving home-made gifts, the idea is that if we all take small actions, they really do add up.

The Path Financial team has made a number of pledges to save on car journeys, reduce waste and even take shorter showers. It feels good to be part of a bigger movement for change. Our big goal as a business is to become Net Zero by the end of 2022. It might seem ambitious, but we’re confident that we can achieve this!

Minimise your travel footprint

If, like me, you love travel but want to make your holidays kinder to the planet this world earth day, there’s plenty of ‘sustainable swaps’ you can make. Rethinking your destination (the UK has so much to offer!); looking at alternative options to flying such as the ferry or train; going direct rather than making multiple stops, or taking public transport and not relying on taxis when you reach your destination are just some of the changes you can make.

Consider your diet

There’s no doubt that what we eat affects the planet. Meat eating is a big climate issue, with livestock accounting for around 14.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases each year. You can help by eating local, growing your own veg, reducing your food waste with proper meal planning can help reduce your carbon footprint.

Beware of greenwashing

Be warned, many companies are guilty of ‘greenwashing’, misleading people by labelling their services and products as ‘ethical’ or ‘green’ as a marketing tactic. So, if you really want to do the right thing on world earth day, make sure that you pick companies, services and products that are truly as ethical as they say they are.

Path Financial, which is shaking up the financial advisory market with its commitment to green finance and supporting United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is the first – and only – national financial advisory firm in the UK set up specifically to tackle the climate crisis. The firm recently secured B Corp status, one of the highest certifications a business can receive for sustainability. For more information visit: https://thepath.co.uk/ . You can read more about our work with Path here