Ethical and Green Investments

Widely available “Ethical” or “Green” investments have been with us for quite a while. One of the big insurance companies launched their first one 25 years ago! Sometimes they are now referred to as “Socially Responsible Funds”, although that may seem a little harsh on the others!

As with most things, they have developed over the years and with climate change issues so high on the agenda these days, interest has never been higher.

However, “Ethical “doesn’t necessarily mean “Green” and vice versa and we need to consider what fundamentals lie at the heart of these investments.

Many “Ethical” funds started out by having a strict remit for what type of company their managers could not invest money in. Classic examples were companies involved in the manufacture of weapons, were involved in animal testing, or perhaps tobacco firms. They tended to be based more on a moral ideology. Certainly some of the funds produced excellent results and proved that you could invest your money and get a good return with a clear conscience.

With the reality of climate change being accepted , there has been a huge surge in interest in technologies that can help “save the planet”. Whether these are for producing sustainable natural energy, new types of transport, or just making things more efficient, you could say that “Green is the new Black”!

So how do you go about investing money in areas that are linked with “doing good” and what are the risks?

There are a wide diversity of funds (getting on for a hundred) that specialise in these companies although finding these funds isn’t always that easy. At Ashwood Law we regularly review these funds to make sure that our customers have access to the full range of investment options.

As with other types of investing, different funds carry different levels of risk and it is vital to make sure that you match the funds to the amount of risk you want to take and not the other way around. This is why our Investment Portfolio Approach is based on Individual Consultations only as we believe this is the best way to look after our customers needs.

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