38 | Tees Business
Is ethical investing
becoming mainstream?
Andrew Gilmore
from Active Chartered
Financial Planners with
some ethical financial
thoughts…
T
here are a growing number of people
in society today that have a real focus
on our environment, sustainability, and
the moral decisions taken by governments
and organisations around the world.
In the UK, this has most recently been
highlighted by MPs voting to pass a motion
to declare an environment and climate
emergency, largely due to campaigning and
pressures from environmental activist group
Extinction Rebellion.
The situation was highlighted again by the
recent heatwave which was also linked to
climate change.
Over the past 12 months we have seen
an increase in client enquiries about ethical
investments, and with acronyms such as
SRI, ESG, SDG and new terminology like
‘Impact Investing’, I thought it would be
beneficial to provide some clarity.
What is Ethical Investing?
In short, Ethical Investing is an investment
strategy which seeks to provide both a
financial return and also have a positive
social/environmental impact. However, how
does this differ from the new terminology
above?
1. Ethical Investing focuses on negative
screening and avoiding investing in
companies that invest in industries
such as tobacco, gambling and
many other areas. This has come
under scrutiny for the variety of