The Ethical Investor

Global warming, overpopulation, the biodiversity crisis... the world we live in is in a state of emergency. This is not just an ecological problem; it is an economic problem as well. The state of the natural world impacts – and is impacted by – human society. Our actions have long-term consequences, so we must be wise in the choices we make, not least in the companies/practices we support through our investment decisions. In The Ethical Investor’s Handbook, author Morten Strange connects the dots, to show how economics and finance play a direct role in perpetuating this crisis. What can we as individual investors do to avoid wrecking the Earth while growing our wealth? How can we navigate the capital allocation space without compromising our ethical values? It can be done – some of the Big Boys have done it – and this invaluable new book shows us how. Delving into topics such as alternative energy sources, conservation and natural capital, The Ethical Investor’s Handbook offers practical advice on how to build a sustainable green portfolio that reaps handsome returns. There are pitfalls and stranded assets to avoid, but also new opportunities if you know where to find them. Do-gooders, with the right understanding of the issues at hand, can make a good buck!

A fun, practical guide to growing your wealth while making a difference Is the money in your bank account helping to fund the fossil fuel and tobacco industries? Do you know which companies your superannuation is invested in? Want to put your money where your ethics are but have no idea where to start? Journalist Nicole Haddow is passionate about financial freedom, but as an investment novice she wanted to find out – is it possible to grow wealth while also doing your bit for the planet and its population? In The Ethical Investor, Nicole guides us through the steps she took to ensure her hard-earned cash isn’t going straight into the pockets of toxic companies. She reassesses what her money currently contributes to and seeks ways to make her strategies greener, chatting with industry experts on everything from superannuation and shares to neo banks and apps to help you get started in micro-investing. Nicole shares the necessary changes she made to have a superannuation account that’s investing in ethical organisations, a share portfolio on a limited budget with investments in a range of growing sustainable businesses and a strategy for making her home more sustainable. And now you can too! Nicole Haddow is a Melbourne-based journalist and author of Smashed Avocado: How I Cracked the Property Market and You Can Too, which is currently being developed into a documentary series. She was the executive property writer for the Australian Financial Review.

How institutions and individuals can address complex social, financial, and environmental problems on a systemic level—and invest in a more secure future. Investment today has evolved from the basic, conventional approach of the past. Investors have come to recognize the importance of sustainable investment and are more frequently considering environmental and social factors in their decisions. Yet the complexity of the times forces us to recognize and transition to a third stage of investment practice: system-level investing. In this paradigm-shifting book, William Burckart and Steve Lydenberg show how system-level investors support and enhance the health and stability of the social, financial, and environmental systems on which they depend for long-term returns. They preserve and strengthen these fundamental systems while still generating competitive or otherwise acceptable performance. This book is for those investors who believe in that transition. They may be institutions, large or small, concerned about the long-term stability of the environment and society. They may be individual investors who want their children and grandchildren to inherit a just and sustainable world. Whoever they may be, Burckart and Lydenberg show them the what, why, and how of system-level investment in this book: what it means to manage system-level risks and rewards, why it is imperative to do so now, and how to integrate this new way of thinking into their current practice. “Burckart and Lydenberg are the Wayne Gretzkys of investing: Showing us not where investing is, but where it’s going.” —Jon Lukomnik, Managing Partner, Sinclair Capital; Senior Fellow, High Meadows Institute

Ethical investment is the fastest growing area in the investment field. More and more people want their savings to help people in the environment, as well as to increase invalue. Ethical investments have actually produced a better financial reward than conventional alternative investments.

Today more and more people want their investments to reflect their social, environmental and/or humanitarian values.This ground-breaking book explains how you can put your money where your heart is and still make healthy profits.The Ethical Investor covers all aspects of this complex topic. It includes: performance comparisons for ethical and mainstream managed funds approaches to screening investments discussion of the chief ethical issues, from animal rights to weapons manufacture a questionnaire that allows you to create your own ethical profile hypothetical case studies of investment portfolios based on particular ethical concerns Investing ethically allows you to reap personal and financial rewards and help influence change as well.