Abundance Investment (pool savings in local councils)
Abundance Investment is a great resource. Here you can pool your savings with others to invest in local councils, instead of on the stock market. It’s also much safer (to date, no council has ever failed to pay back the money, as a council kind of can’t go bust and run off with your money!)
Most are using your money (over 5 years) to tackle climate change and reduce carbon emissions. This is through initiatives like planting more trees and investing in green energy and better public transport.
As with any investment there are risks. But this company adheres to all the proper rules, and it’s kind of like ‘crowdfunding for your council’, where a survey found that 73% of savers and investors would be interested in lending money to councils, if it helped with environmental and social benefits. Especially as the average group of 100,000 people in the UK holds £4 billion in savings.
So instead of cash-strapped councils asking government for help (that often says no due to lack of funds), this is kind of do-it-yourself-improve-your-community instead. Locals lend the money (and get back something in return in the form of interest and also better communities).
You can invest from £5 (and can also choose to donate interest back to community projects). This is a fantastic idea, why is this not more widely-known?
So far, just four councils are involved. Here is what your investments would be funding. Learn more on ideas on how visionary councils can improve communities.
If planting green spaces, read up on pet-friendly gardens and wildlife-friendly gardens. If planting trees, know of trees to avoid near horses (including yew, oak and sycamore).
- Hounslow Council – community energy, grants to local community projects and places of worship, upgrading air, energy and transport for schools, cycle paths, reuse and repair events, transform unused land to grow local free food.
- Hammersmith & Fulham Council – Rain gardens to protect against floods, ‘greening the grey’ schemes (presumably making urban areas greener?), and secure bike storage.
- Greenwich Council – more LED wildlife-friendly public lighting, solar panels, improving public parks and greener public buildings.
- Southwark Council – creating more cycle spaces, transition lampposts and parks to LED lighting, run pools and gyms on green energy, replace boilers with heat pumps at a local school, expanding a local tool library, nature projects for local green spaces and cemeteries and again installing rain gardens, to prevent floods.
You can also choose to invest in community energy, like solar panels on schools. These cannot only reduce carbon emissions and power a school, but leftover energy can be sold to the national grid. This means investments to improve schools and communities (and possibly helping to pay bills for local people in fuel poverty). It’s all rather exciting stuff!
