Make My Money Matter "Beep": Turning up the heat

With Donald Trump renewing his call to "drill, baby, drill", many believe there never been a more urgent need to ramp up the war on climate change.

And, as if by magic, this week environmental group Make My Money Matter is turning up the heat on the UK's biggest banks, through a new ad campaign "Beep" by Mother, calling on them to stop financing new fossil fuel projects.

Starring One Day and This Is Going to Hurt actor Ambika Mod, the film uses humour to deliver a serious message and follows previous work featuring Olivia Colman and Kit Harington, all aimed at pushing Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, Santander, and NatWest to take decisive action.

The film is designed to illustrate the unseen link between the Big Five fossil-fuel high street banks and the climate destruction they finance using a powerful visual metaphor. Each time a customer taps their bank card; a piece of the planet goes up in flames. Make My Money Matter hopes the film will prompt individuals and businesses to switch to fossil-free banks such as Nationwide, Starling or Triodos Bank.

The group, founded by filmmaker and activist Richard Curtis, claims the Big Five have financed fossil fuel companies with $556bn since the Paris Agreement. None has ruled out financing oil and gas companies to expand their operations, a key step to urgently limiting global heating as the International Energy Agency outlined.

This year began with the climate crisis dominating headlines, with unprecedented wildfires causing destruction in the US State of California, the effects of which were worsened by climate change, according to scientists.

2024 was the hottest year on record and the first with an average temperature exceeding 1.5C above the pre-industrial level - the threshold set by the 2016 Paris Agreement to significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change.

Make My Money Matter senior campaign manager Izzy Howden commented: "For too long the Big Five banks have actively financed the climate crisis because they rake in large profits while destroying the planet.

"As we see climate chaos in action - from California to Australia, from Brazil to Portugal - these banks shirk responsibility and greenwash their reputations while continuing to support fossil fuel companies. It's time for this to change. People can send a message by ditching these fossil-fuel banks for good and switching to a greener alternative."

Mother creative director James Ross Edwards added: "We didn't want to leave any room for uncertainty regarding the damage investments in the fossil fuel industry by UK high street banks is causing our planet. We really hope the film encourages people to reconsider who they're banking with."

So, what is the consensus around the Decision Marketing office?

There is certainly no time like the present to push the environmental message, and hopefully this will convince many that it is a time for change in the banking sector. Whereas last year's Olivia Colman campaign was hard-hitting, this film takes a more subtle approach - in fact, it could be argued that it is so subtle most people could miss the point if they do not watch it to the end. Whether that is fitting for this urgent message only time will tell.

But one thing is sure, the last thing this planet needs is a climate change denier in the White House - we need action and we need it now.