In her latest role as a greedy CEO of a fossil fuel company, Olivia Colman puts profit over people to spotlight how pension funds are being misused for Richard Curtis’ Make My Money Matter Campaign.

The Make My Money Matter campaign aims to raise public awareness of the damaging links between the UK pensions industry and the climate emergency. Launching to coincide with COP28 in the UAE, the campaign calls on all pension schemes to stop investing in fossil fuels.

The campaign has been created with the help of creative agency, Lucky Generals and sees Academy Award winner Olivia Colman take on the role of ‘Obilivia Coalmine’, a slimy, profit-hungry, potty-mouthed CEO of a company financed by UK pension holders.

The anger-inducing campaign video sees ‘Obiliva’ directly address audiences, thanking viewers on behalf of the fossil fuel industries for their generous, unwitting contributions. With the help of people unknowingly investing their pension funds into fossil fuels, Obilivia’s company has been enjoying a bumper year.

Dressed in black latex, Oblivia lounges in her office as a supervillain might. She explains to the audience that pension funds have helped ‘dig, drill and destroy’ while companies have managed to throw in lip service distractions such as ‘a few wind turbines’ to ‘keep Greta and her chums happy’ in a nod to the greenwashing rife in business.

Oblivia acknowledges that the funding may see the global temperature rise ‘a teensy-weensy bit’ but that this is nothing compared with how her profits will soar. At the end of her condescending message of thanks, Oblivia toasts with a champagne glass of inky liquid. As she takes a sip black liquid spills onto her face. ‘Fracking hell,’ she exclaims as the oil flows. The message is designed to infuriate audiences and encourage them to consider where their pensions are being invested.

The film was directed by Raine Allen-Miller, the critically acclaimed director of 2023’s ‘Rye Lane’.

Where research from Make My Money Matter shows a staggering £88 billion of UK pension savers’ money is invested in fossil fuel companies, just 19% of UK pension holders support their scheme investing in oil and gas, compared to two-thirds (66%) who support their pension investing in renewables. The campaign aims to close this gap and ensure that the public questions where their funds are going to prevent money going to climate damage.

“The cruel irony is that whilst we all save for the future, the pension companies are investing in industries that are actively destroying it.”  says Danny Brooke-Taylor, Lucky Generals.

£20 billion of pension savers money is invested into Shell alone, a company which, despite bumper profits, has in 2023 publicly rolled back on climate targets. So far, not one UK pension scheme has committed to stopping finance for fossil fuel expansion, despite clear guidance from the International Energy Agency that new oil and gas is incompatible with the 1.5-degree warming target of the Paris Climate Agreement.

“I’ve seen some dark, dystopian characters in my career, and that doesn’t even include Hugh Grant in Love Actually. But I think Oblivia Coalmine is right up there with the worst,” says Richard Curtis, Co-Founder of Make My Money Matter.

He continues: “At Make My Money Matter, we hope this sinister performance by Olivia Colman will highlight a more serious issue – that billions of pounds of our hard-earned pensions are driving the climate crisis. People across the UK want their  money to help our planet, not harm it and all our pension schemes must now pay attention, and take immediate and urgent action.”

With the climate emergency heightening, Oblivia Coalmine acts as a reminder for audiences to question and challenge businesses, as the Make My Money Matter campaign successfully holds stakeholders accountable at a vital moment in history.