Australian Ethical has made the commitment as businesses and schoolchildren around the world strike to raise awareness of the global climate emergency.

According to the super and investment fund manager, it is responding to growing concerns from members and the community about the impacts of deforestation and is working with Rainforest Trust and HalfCut on the project.

Australian Ethical highlighted the results of its own research, revealing that climate change has now outpaced the cost of living as the number one concern for Australians.

Commenting on the commitment, chief customer officer Allyson Lowbridge said: “At Australian Ethical, our members look to us to provide leadership on the issues that matter most to them, and they’re telling us that nothing concerns them more right now than the state of the planet.

“Deforestation is escalating and wild fires in the Amazon are drawing attention to the problem; there is still not enough money being invested to protect the world’s forests, despite their capacity to combat the climate crisis.”

She explained that out of the $US256 billion committed globally to mitigating climate change, only 1.5 per cent goes to stopping deforestation, even though forests could help provide as much as a third of the solution.

“That’s why it’s so exciting to be working with HalfCut to protect the Amazon rainforest – not just on behalf of our members but [also] on behalf of the planet.”

HalfCut was created by Australian Ethical members James Stanton-Cooke and Jessica Clarke and buys and protects endangered rainforests globally.

James Stanton-Cooke outlined how “half of the world’s forests are already gone and that is an absolute crisis”.

“These forests have huge importance in fighting climate change by acting as carbon sinks to offset the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere,” he said.

“We want to empower people to take action on global deforestation by protecting the last remaining tropical rainforests, and we’re thrilled to be collaborating with Australian Ethical to take our message to more people.”

With the Protect the Amazon pledge campaign running until 3 October 2019, Ms Lowbridge said that “Australians have realised the power of money to create change and that they don’t have to sacrifice investment performance to protect the planet and have a comfortable retirement”.

She said: “The window for effective climate action is closing fast and the decisions we make today will determine the security of the future of the planet as we know it.”

Australian Ethical said it supports the Global Climate Strike and has joined the #notbusinessasusual coalition calling for immediate action on climate change.