7 July 2026
Kicking off a collective conversation on the future of pensions
Dear friends,
Our pensions are tied to our future: its potential, its power, its perils. It’s high time we had a deeper conversation about that.
It is in this context that we are delighted to announce the first in a series of deliberation-focused events we’ve been organizing together with fellows from the Royal Society of Arts (RSA): a deliberative session on the future of pensions held at this year’s Building Bridges conference (details below).
We will hold similar events open to a wider public in London and New York City, with additional cities possible. If you want to be involved, support this initiative financially, or know others that would be interested, do let us know. We look forward to sharing more soon.
Have feedback or ideas? Send them our way. You’re also very welcome to join our next virtual Post-Growth Finance Happy Hour on July 24th! Find the call details at the end of this email.
Take care and keep caring,
The Team at Arketa Institute
The Pension Paradox: Session Accepted for Building Bridges 2026
Together with a world-class cohort of partners, we'll bring deliberation to this year's Building Bridges in the form of a mini citizens assembly-style session on the future of pensions.
Building Bridges is the largest sustainable finance event in Switzerland, bringing together practitioners from across finance, international NGOs, and the UN ecosystem, to name a few.
After a competitive selection process (over 140+ proposals were submitted), our participatory session was chosen to be part of the final program. Our co-organizing partners are the Swiss Impact and Prosperity Initiative (SIPI) / B Lab Switzerland, Climate Alliance Switzerland, Investors for Purpose (UK), Ethos (CH), Wellbeing Economy Alliance, Earth4All, the Swiss Platform for Impact Investing (SPII), Nest Pension Fund (CH), WWF Switzerland, Sustainable Finance Geneva, Climate Bridges, Swiss Youth for Climate, One Planet Lab (CH), and Deliberation Gateway.
With so many key actors involved, this session is well-positioned to catalyze a deeper reconsideration of wellbeing in retirement in Switzerland and beyond.
Find the full conference program here.
What can investors really do about climate change? A response to LSE
On the topic of sustainable finance, key figures within the space are starting to question its legitimacy, although they still don’t go far enough.
A recent report from London School of Economics’ Global School for Sustainability titled “What can investors do about climate change?” is an example of the conversation moving in the right direction.
The report co-authors admit: “decarbonisation cannot be delivered one company at a time through investor pressure alone, especially when economic incentives continue to point in the opposite direction. The scale of change required is far more profound, calling for a fundamental transformation of the broader economic system.” We agree, and our work exists to normalize discussion–and action–around what those of us in the finance industry should do once we’ve accepted that. So we published a response.
Read the original article and our response here.
Steve interviewed by Italian ethical banking site Valori.it
Last month, an interview Steve did with Andrea Di Turi was published on the Italian sustainable economy and ethical finance news platform Valori.it.
The piece touches on Arketa’s work more broadly (“normalizing discussions of Ecological Economics among the investment community”) but focused primarily on our pension report from earlier this year. They talk about how we can plan for resilient wellbeing in retirement and why today’s pension funds need to fundamentally rethink their approach.
Valori.it is an editorial hub specializing in stories on ethical finance and the sustainable economy, founded in 2002 and supported by Fondazione Finanza Etica. They seek to explain complicated economic topics in accessible ways, because “quality of life, the environment, and our communities are profoundly connected to the choices made by companies and markets.”
Find the full article (in Italian) here.
Matt presents at the biennial conference of the United States Society of Ecological Economics
From June 18th to June 21st, the United States Society for Ecological Economics (USSEE) held their biennial conference at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio.
Matt attended and presented our work on post-growth pensions, in addition to participating in the dedicated degrowth track hosted by The Degrowth Institute.
Other presentations at the conference covered a diverse set of issues from building better Ecological Economics models, to the role of money creation in climate change, to building degrowth-aligned businesses.
The USSEE is a satellite organization of the global International Society of Ecological Economics. The European society ESEE also held their annual conference in June, with several members of our network in attendance.
Calendar: Upcoming Events & Projects
July 24, 16:30-17:30 CEST / 10:30-11:30 EDT: Our next Postgrowth Finance Happy Hour! Drop in anytime to informally discuss Ecological Economics and finance with us. Please subscribe to the newsletter or write to us directly for the Zoom link.
Early Fall: We’re bringing together a global network of NGOs that work directly with pension funds to discuss engagement strategy and coordination. Let us know if you know of organizations we should invite.
October 1: Steve and Anastasia will present at the Swiss Association of Actuaries’ 2026 Sustainability in (Re-)Insurance Conference in Zurich, Switzerland.
October 6-8: Steve and Anastasia will be at Building Bridges in Geneva, Switzerland, co-hosting The Pension Paradox deliberative session on Wednesday, October 7th.
Curious what else we’ve been up to? Check out our news archive.
Arketa Institute for Post-Growth Finance
Contact Us | Linkedin | Unsubscribe
Written with love entirely by humans.