Talk

Eliminating Tobacco Companies From Investment Portfolios | Bronwyn King

Bronwyn King

TEDxSydney 2017 · 16 June 2017

“When you discover something unjust, even if by accident, you should have a go at fixing it.” When radiation oncologist, Bronwyn King learned she owned several tobacco companies by default, via her superannuation fund she made it her mission to change the system. In this powerful and persuasive talk, she speaks out against investment in the tobacco industry, an industry that kills 6 million people every year and outlines her global campaign to eliminate tobacco companies from investment portfolios.


Bronwyn King is a Radiation Oncologist and Founder and CEO of Tobacco Free Portfolios. Her collaborative work with finance industry executives has contributed to >40% of Australian pension funds implementing tobacco free investment mandates, with ~$2.5 billion tobacco stocks divested.

In the past year, Bronwyn and her team have been delighted to play a part in the significant global shift towards tobacco-free investment, shining a spotlight on the critical role of the finance sector in global tobacco control.  Notable tobacco-free policies implemented by insurance giant AXA (divested $1.8 Billion Euro tobacco industry assets in May 2016); Sweden’s leading pension fund AP4; France’s largest pension fund – Fond de Reserve pour les Retraites; Ireland’s Sovereign Investment Fund; CalPERS – the largest pension fund in the USA; AMP Capital (the largest tobacco-free move in Australia to date) and Bank of New Zealand.

Tobacco Free Portfolios is now working with 100+ financial organisations including sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, banks, insurers and fund managers.

Bronwyn is the honourary Tobacco Control Ambassador for Cancer Council Australia, an Australia Day Ambassador and an Ambassador for Big Brothers Big Sisters Australia.  She also represented Australia in swimming and served as Team Doctor for the Australian Swimming Team for ten years.  In 2014, she was one of the Australian Financial review/Westpac 100 Women of Influence, received the 2015 VicHealth award for Preventing Tobacco Use.

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