The Ethical Investor S Handbook How To Grow Your Money Without Wrecking The Earth

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!

From three of the founders of the field of socially responsible investing, and the authors of the pioneering volume Ethical Investing, here is a completely up-to-date guide that teaches you how to create an investment portfolio that makes money without making you sacrifice your principles. Peter D. Kinder, Steven D. Lydenberg, and Amy L. Domini have made careers of identifying investment opportunities that respect clients' social and political interests and have a strong track record that proves you can invest profitably and still respect your conscience. Now they explain their strategies in a book that allows individual investors to guide their own course or better communicate with their own investment counselor. Using their techniques, you can select, research, and screen companies according to a list of criteria that distinguishes publicly traded companies by the soundness of their policies in areas you care about - whether the companies are "green" or have defense contracts, what their employee practices are, if they test products on animals, where their overseas investments go, and much more. Investors will also be able to use these principles and strategies to control and direct their assets, whether they choose to invest in mutual funds, pension funds, or stocks and bonds. Pension fund managers and other institutional investors have discovered socially responsible investing. Investments in socially screened vehicles increased ten-fold to $500 billion in the last eight years. The authors' Domini 400 Social Index fueled some of this demand by offering investors the first broad-based index to track U.S. common stocks. Now, with this new book, everyone has the opportunity to use his or her money wisely and still be responsible to society's needs.

'This book presents a salient truth: every investor - no matter how large or small - has the power to help address our climate crisis and build a more sustainable world. Together, we can and must act now' Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States 'Everyone's savings account and pension can meaningfully contribute. Ross tells us how in this clear, easy to understand yet transformative book' Christiana Figueres, Founding Partner, Global Optimism and Former Executive Secretary, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 'I can't imagine a more important book at the moment. A detailed, action-oriented guide on how to make our money matter and save us and the planet we live on' Richard Curtis, Writer, Director, Co-Founder of Red Nose Day and UN Sustainable Development Goals Advocate Investing responsibly is one of the most powerful ways that you can fight climate change. No longer a niche sector for rebel fund managers, conscious investing has the potential to raise huge sums of money to the companies and organisations on the front line fighting the climate crisis and make investors positive returns in the process. In this essential introduction to green investing, Alice Ross shows you how you can turn your savings and pensions, however big or small, into a force for change. You will learn: - Which sectors are leading the charge by developing cutting-edge solutions; from smart farming to renewable energy - How to cut through 'alphabet soup' jargon and identify 'greenwashing' - The ways you can maximise your economic power and hold those you're investing in to account 'Changing the way that we invest is one of the most powerful levers we have for solving climate change. This hugely interesting and immensely practical book not only explains why changing how we invest is so critically important but also provides a set of powerful tools for actually doing it' Rebecca Henderson, John and Natty McArthur University Professor at Harvard University and author of Reimagining Capitalism 'Explains the power you have, through your investment choices, to accelerate the path toward a sustainable clean energy future. Read this book and be empowered to create a better future for the planet' Michael Mann, Distinguished Professor, Penn State University, author of The New Climate War

Over $100 trillion is invested, more than the size of the global economy. The planet can no longer produce enough to keep this growing. Our savings are killing the planet. What can we do about it?

Confessions of Ethical Inve$ting encourages us to think differently about money as a tool for investing. With retirement savings pools growing rapidly around the developed world, it is important for each of us to understand different strategies, make informed decisions about financial choices and act according to our values. With a background in financial services and marketing, Kassia Klinger explores her own relationship with money, sharing lessons learned as well as the inspiring origins of ethical investing that she unearths along the way. Klinger reveals the positive power of money when employed for the benefit of all: society, the environment and investors. Klinger takes a wide-angle view of the last fifty years traversing global social trends and major political events, while on a personal level confessing her hopes, dreams, concerns, challenges, defeats and triumphs finding congruence with some pioneering individuals she meets. Confessions of Ethical Inve$ting will challenge, inspire and empower you. If thinking about your financial future, investment alternatives, retirement savings or what on earth to do with a recent or upcoming inheritance, then this book is a great place to start. With wry humour Klinger tells a very personal tale. There is a golden thread in the narrative ... Klinger's intersection with a larger story - the growth of ethical investment ... The writer is ultimately optimistic, believing that one can 'do-well' by 'doing-good'. Dr Simon Longstaff AO, St James Ethics Centre

"In an era of anxiety and helplessness, this is an educational and empowering guide to making meaningful change."-Benjamin Law 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!

This survey examines the vibrant academic literature on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. While there is no consensus on the exact list of ESG issues, responsible investors increasingly assess stocks in their portfolios based on nonfinancial data on environmental impact (e.g., carbon emissions), social impact (e.g., employee satisfaction), and governance attributes (e.g., board structure). The objective is to reduce exposure to investments that pose greater ESG risks or to influence companies to become more sustainable. One active area of research at present involves assessing portfolio risk exposure to climate change. This literature review focuses on institutional investors, which have grown in importance such that they have now become the largest holders of shares in public companies globally. Historically, institutional investors tended to concentrate their ESG efforts mostly on corporate governance (the “G” in ESG). These efforts included seeking to eliminate provisions that restrict shareholder rights and enhance managerial power, such as staggered boards, supermajority rules, golden parachutes, and poison pills. Highlights from this section: · There is no consensus on the exact list of ESG issues and their materiality. · The ESG issue that gets the most attention from institutional investors is climate change, in particular their portfolio companies’ exposure to carbon risk and “stranded assets.” · Investors should be positioning themselves for increased regulation, with the regulatory agenda being more ambitious in the European Union than in the United States. Readers might come away from this survey skeptical about the potential for ESG investing to affect positive change. I prefer to characterize the current state of the literature as having a “healthy dose of skepticism,” with much more remaining to be explored. Here, I hope the reader comes away with a call to action. For the industry practitioner, I believe that the investment industry should strive to achieve positive societal goals. CFA Institute provides an exemplary case in its Future of Finance series (www.cfainstitute.org/research/future-finance). For the academic community, I suggest we ramp up research aimed at tackling some of the open questions around the pressing societal goals of ESG investing. I am optimistic that practitioners and academics will identify meaningful ways to better harness the power of global financial markets for addressing the pressing ESG issues facing our society.