What is an ethical investment? For that matter, what is “ethical”? For an individual, it can be very personal, but we need to use a definition which refers to generally accepted principles of right and wrong or we’ll never get anywhere! We use a definition in our Terms and Conditions as follows:

Just over 1% of money in managed funds is now invested in ethical funds. This doesn’t sound like much, but the value of sales of ethical funds in 2006 was £136M, with the total funds being managed in ethical funds at the end of that year being around £5bn.

Greenwash is a recently invented term (the word first appeared in the Oxford Concise Dictionary in 1999) used to refer to the practice of companies and other organisations to pretend they are concerned about the environment and doing something about it, when really what they are doing is superficial, out to impress, and, quite frankly... greenwashing us.

An alternative to ethical funds is to choose a sustainable fund. These combine many of the benefits of an ethical fund with a more positive approach in that they invest in companies that positively improve the environment and quality of human life, seeking to break new ground in terms of environmental and social performance.

There are a number of independent financial advisors (IFAs) who specialise in advising on ethical investments.

They are listed here.