Ethical Investments: Lack of Awareness Means Investors Are Supporting Industries They Oppose

Monday, March 16, 2015

Liz Berwick is a fairly typical saver. The 35-year-old mother of two hopes to put away around £3,000 this year by saving regularly into a tax-free Isa. The question is, where?

“I have become quite disillusioned with the high-street banks,” she says. “They’re quite impersonal and it seems to be all about profit, not about supporting people and communities.”

Liz and her husband Richard have two young children: William, aged 5, and Jacob who’s 11 months old. Liz works from home running Simply Scrumptious Cupcakes, baking cakes for weddings and parties and other events.

“Since I’ve had children, I’ve become very conscious that I want them to grow up in a world that is fair,” she says. “So we try and live as green as possible, for instance by buying fair trade and organic goods where we can.”

Her disillusion with the mainstream banks and eagerness to ensure her money is used to help the world, rather than fund nasty things such as the arms trade or oil companies, led her to the internet to search for ethical finance.

There she found a link to Triodos, and after further research she decided she liked what the bank stood for. It uses people’s savings to lend money to organisations involved in activities such as organic food and farming, renewable energy, recycling and nature conservation projects.

Source: The Independent (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Environment
Tags
impact investing, lending