Fact checking our favourite impact stats

Saw a fun fact about Future Super's impact? Curious to know the working behind it? Here's what you need to know.

You'll notice a lot of these stats come from our 2019 Impact Report. Check it out for further info on our assumptions and methodologies — and if you have any questions, we'd love to hear from you.

1

Did you know that if 7.7% of Australia’s superannuation was invested in renewable energy, Australia could fund a 100% transition to renewables by 2030.

Reference

Supercharging Australia’s clean energy transition, UTS: Institute for Sustainable Futures, 2018

‍2

Future Super talks to companies about their behaviour whether we invest or not. Last year, we engaged 87 of the ASX100 and had 6 companies commit to improvements on their gender equality policies — positive changes that could impact over 8000 employees in Australia.

Reference

Equality is Everyone's Business, Future Super, 2019‍

3

Influence isn’t only for the uber-wealthy. The collective value of superannuation is 1500 times Clive Palmer's net worth. If he was loud enough to influence the federal election in 2019, imagine what we could do.

References

‍Clive Palmer, Forbes

Quarterly superannuation performance statistics highlights, APRA, 2020‍

4

The amount of carbon abated and avoided by Future Super members in 2019 could power 92 SpaceX flights to the moon – and back!

References

A SpaceX Launch Puts Out as Much CO2 as Flying 341 People Across the Atlantic, Treehugger, 2019

One SpaceX Rocket Launch Produces the Equivalent of 395 Transatlantic Flights worth of CO2 Emissions, Champion Traveler, 2019

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

5

Last year in the lead up to the School Strike 4 Climate, we launched Not Business As Usual — a campaign that got over 3,000 Australian and New Zealand companies to support their workers in joining the action. How's that for schooling fossil fuels.

Reference

This is not business as usual, Future Super, 2019‍

6

In November 2019, we invested in a $20 million bond issue from VisionFund International, a microfinance-focused subsidiary of World Vision. The focus of this bond is on supporting women entrepreneurs, rural clients and farmers, and other vulnerable people seeking greater financial inclusion.

Reference

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020‍

7

The cumulative worth of Future Super members' money could buy the $30 track Lil Nas X bought for Old Town Road 17,936,494 times – a track that hit over 1.3 billion streams. That's a lot of people that could be humming our tune.

References

Based on overall Future Super Funds Under Management (FUM) at June 30, 2020.‍

Lil Nas X's 'Old Town Road' Is The Most Streamed Song Of 2019 By A Landslide, BET, 2019

8

Through our partnership with GreenSquares, we have helped 2 schools in Victoria put up solar panels on their roofs. That's approximately 650 school children who are using energy from the sun to power their education.

References

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

Summary Statistics for Victorian Schools, Victoria State Government, 2019

9

Over 3,000 people. That's how many people signed the Fund Our Future petition, joining voices to demand the government do better by its people, and distribute the $12 billion annual subsidies paid to fossil fuel companies to those hardest hit by the economic impacts of the pandemic.

Reference

Fund Our Future, Future Super, 2020

10

As of June 30 this year, Future Super members have moved $658,575,436 of their super dollars toward building a future worth retiring into. That's just over Beyonce's net worth. In her own words, "she's worth every dollar". So is divestment.

11

In 2019, we used proxy voting to advance the ethical and environmental management of companies we invest in. We voted on 29 resolutions covering topics like: improving equity for women and minorities; setting more ambitious emissions or plastic reduction targets; and increasing transparency around the influence of business lobbying on politics.

Reference

2019-20 Voting Record, Future Super, 2020

12

Our investment portfolio doesn't include BP or Rio Tinto (unlike many super funds) — and we couldn't be happier, especially following the proposed and actual destruction of Aboriginal sacred sites in the Pilbara.

References

How We Invest, Future Super, 2020

'Heritage of all Australians': Rio Tinto and BHP in damage control after call for mining halt, The Guardian, 2020‍

13

Future Super is less than 6 years old, and yet in that amount of time our members have collectively divested $52,481,335.48 from fossil fuels — or just about two times Mark Hamill's net worth. That's right — you could get two Luke Skywalkers for that cash!

References

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

Here's How Star Wars Has Impacted Mark Hamill's Net Worth, Men's Health, 2019

14

In the 6 years since Future Super began, our members have divested just under $5 million from weapons and militarism. That amount of money could pay for you and a friend to live on a luxury cruise ship for 8 years. Sail away!

References

Woman sells everything to become permanent resident on cruise ship, Stuff, 2016

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

15

Future Super has been around for 6 years and we've already moved just over $5 million out of the gambling industry. That's more money than what you would receive in prize money if you were the female champion of the Australian Open, the Australian Golf Open, and the T20 Cricket World Cup in 2020.

References

2020 ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open purse, winner’s share, prize money payout, GNN, 2020

Record $71 million in prize money for Australian Open 2020, Australian Open, 2019

Cricket Australia committed to Women's T20 World Cup pay equality, ABC, 2019

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020‍

16

In the 6 years since our inception, Future Super has divested just over $5 million from tobacco. That's the price of 144306 packs of Marlboro Golds.

References

Australian Cigarette Prices Set To Become The Highest In The World, Nova, 2020

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

17

The amount of carbon abated by Future Super's investments is equivalent to stopping 32141 transAtlantic round trips.

References

This estimate was calculated by dividing the total amount of tCO2e abated and avoided by the Future Super Fund in the calendar year of 2019 (62,000 tonnes), by the estimated carbon impact of a Transatlantic flight (1.929 tonnes).

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

18

Future Super members collectively abated and avoided over 62,000 tonnes of carbon in 2019 — that's 12,400 hot air balloons worth of CO2. Imagine how much further the house in Up! could've gone.

References

‍Average American Family Emits Over Four Hot Air Balloon Volumes of CO2 per Year, Nextbigfuture.com, 2018

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020‍

19

Last year, Future Super members abated and avoided just over 62,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent. That amount of energy would be enough to charge 7,906,997,773 smartphones — that's more than the entire population of the planet — to play your custom theme tune music.

References

Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator, United States EPA, 2020

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

20

The Social Impact Bonds that our Balanced Impact members invest in do vital work in communities. The Aspire Social Impact bond works to make a lasting difference to the lives of people experiencing homelessness in Adelaide.

References

Portfolio Holdings Disclosure - Balanced Impact, Future Super, 2020

Aspire SIB, Social Ventures Australia, 2020

21

Future Super invests in 95 renewable energy assets in total. That's a lot of safe energy being generated for our future.

Reference

This asset number is as at June 2020.

22

The carbon abated and avoided by Future Super members in 2019 was 267,818 times more than the impact of recycling. And now you're doing both!

Reference

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

23

The amount of carbon abated and avoided by our members in 2019 is equivalent to over 35,000 people deciding to stay in Australia over winter rather than flying to London and back via Singapore.

Reference

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

24

In 2019, the amount of carbon abated and avoided by our members was the same as almost 60,000 people deciding to start eating a plant-based diet.

Reference

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

25

In July 2019, we became the first super fund to invest into the National Clean Energy lending market. What does that mean? The platform offers people an alternative to obtaining a bank loan in order to install solar, which means that anyone can finance solar and batteries for their homes at a fair interest rate by accessing the National Clean Energy lending market through the RateSetter platform.

Reference

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

‍

26

Our members abated and avoided a hell of a lot of carbon in 2019, so much so that it was like taking about 27,500 cars off Australia's roads.

Reference

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

27

The Loy Yang A power plant in Victoria has a generation capacity of 2,225 MWh. In 2019, members of our Renewables Plus Growth and Balanced Impact portfolios invested in solar and wind farms that generated more than 23 times that (over 51,000 MWh).

Reference

2019 Impact Report, Future Super, 2020

28

On 1 May 2019, Future Super became the first super fund to completely exclude investments in companies that have no women on their boards. And that's not just a feel-good move: a report by McKinsey & Co found that companies with strong diversity have better competitive performance and risk mitigation.

Reference

All-male boards are now out of our portfolio, Future Super, 2019‍