Benedict Cumberbatch Gets Hot and Sweaty to Expose UK Pension Deforestation Investments

BAFTA and Emmy award winner Benedict Cumberbatch, the star of ‘Doctor Strange’, Sherlock’, and ‘The Hobbit’, gives a sensational performance as ‘Benedict Lumberjack’, the villainous CEO of a company using UK pension savers’ money to destroy the world’s forests for profit.  

The chilling advert – created by Lucky Generals for Make My Money Matter, the movement co-founded by UK filmmaker Richard Curtis – reveals the twisted truth behind how pension funds invest our savings. It follows on from last year’s viral sensation fronted by OIivia Colman as Oblivia Coalmine to spotlight the industry’s ties to fossil fuel companies. 

In the spoof feature, Benedict Lumberjack is wrapped in a towel enjoying a hot and steamy sauna while he thanks UK pension holders for the money in their pension, which has helped ‘scorch, slash and burn’ rainforests. The advert ends with a sinister reveal, showing viewers the world’s forests outside his sauna in a blazing fire. Make My Money Matter hopes that Benedict’s hard-hitting performance will make a lasting impression for both savers and industry alike, and spark action at the pace and scale needed to address the crisis before it’s too late. Pension holders can contact their employer to green their workplace pension via the campaign website here.

The ad, created by Lucky Generals, produced by film company Academy and directed by Sophia Ray, aims to raise public awareness of the role the UK pensions industry plays in financing the companies driving the climate and nature crises. Make My Money Matter hopes it will force urgent action to tackle deforestation financed by the sector. The campaign launches with only one year to go before the 2025 deadline set by the United Nations to eliminate commodity-driven deforestation.  

The deforestation crisis has worsened, with global rainforest loss happening at a rate of 10 football pitches per minute last year, and half of the Amazon rainforest could reach tipping point, inducing large-scale collapse, in 25 years' time if urgent action is not taken now. According to Amazon Watch, this year the Amazon experienced its worst fire season in the past two decades due to agribusiness, animal agriculture and unprecedented droughts, with more than 1,800 incidents recorded.

Over £300 billion of pension fund investments are in companies with a high risk of driving deforestation, yet Make My Money Matter’s 2024 Climate Action Report found that the UK pensions industry is still failing to seriously tackle these links. 2/3 of the largest workplace pension providers do not have a public deforestation policy, including major brands Royal London, Scottish Widows, and Standard Life. This lack of progress is echoed in Global Canopy’s 2023 Deforestation Action Tracker, a stocktake of action on deforestation by more than 700 financial institutions around the world, which found that 75% did not have a public deforestation policy. 

This is despite public appetite for action, with over half of UK savers believing that the industry should publish policies and become deforestation-free and thinking the government should introduce a law requiring it of pension funds. 

Make My Money Matter is urging individuals and organisations to join the demand for deforestation-free pensions via their website here. 

Danny Brooke-Taylor, co-founder Lucky Generals commented, “It's time to turn up the heat on the pension companies that invest our savings into the destruction of the rainforests.” 

Izzy Howden, senior campaign manager, Make My Money Matter commented, “Benedict Lumberjack shows us the dark truth that our money is being used to destroy the planet and the future we’re saving for. It has never been more clear: our pension funds are failing us. They should be protecting our retirement, but instead they continue to invest our money in the companies causing deforestation and profiting from the climate and nature crises. We need urgent action now - before it's too late.” 

Sophia Ray, director of ‘Benedict Lumberjack’ commented, "It was a dream to direct a project like this. A strong idea for an extremely important cause, brought to life with a mesmerisingly powerful talent like Benedict. It’s a strong reminder that we can align our financial decisions with our values, and I’m proud to be part of this important conversation for change." 

Mary Mijares, fossil finance campaigner, Amazon Watch, commented, “As the film alludes, we entrust our hard-earned money to institutions that promise us future financial security. Yet, these very institutions are financing and profiting from extractive industries ravaging the lush rainforests and rich biodiversity of the Amazon biome, which are vital for global climate regulation. As the climate crisis intensifies, we must centre and invest in the leadership of Indigenous peoples, who dedicate their lives to defend their ancestral territories from deforestation and corporate extractivism. Indigenous land rights and self-determination are the most effective long-term climate solutions to safeguard the Amazon and our collective future.”