Finance
Find ethical investment and other eco friendly financial information, products and services in Australia.
Ethical investing means putting your savings and investments into funds or superannuation that invest in ethically-screened companies. Put simply, if no-one invests in "bad" companies they won't have money to do bad things.
In all other ways ethical investment works just like any other investment, and produces comparable returns on investment.
Ethical screening can be:
1. negative - such as avoiding arms and tobacco companies
2. positive - seeking out companies doing something positive
3. best of sector - the "most ethical" company in any given industry
4. corporate engagement - trying to influence companies by offering investment only if they meet certain ethical conditions.
Every investment fund or bank has different ethical criteria. Some focus on social more than environmental issues, and some are greener than others. (For instance, Coca-Cola, BP, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton are included in some "ethical" portfolios.) Of the approaches listed above, the positive investment approach tends to be the deepest green .
While Bendigo Bank has an account that allows you to donate your interest to Oxfam, there is currently no ethically-invested everyday bank account in Australia.