Summit to Think About
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It won’t have escaped your attention that the Copenhagen Summit on climate change takes place next month. This is a milestone in how the world will contend with arguably its greatest challenge: global warming. Attended by the world’s statesmen we can only hope that they will make the best decisions on our behalf.
But, as individuals, we will have little or no impact on the content and outcome of those discussions. Closer to home, however, we can be much more involved through our green and ethical investments. Most importantly, the burgeoning green and ethical market offers a great business opportunity for advisers.
Last week’s statistics from the Investment Management Association showed that quarterly net sales from investment in ethical funds had risen three fold, year-on-year, and are now selling as well as they were before the credit crunch landed. That’s not surprising when you consider consumer attitudes.
Research we conducted in October with YouGov shows 70 per cent of people consider their outlook to be either very or fairly green and ethical. Similarly, while generating a return is the main objective of investments, half of the UK population want to make money and make a positive difference when investing. Green and ethical considerations are now ‘mass market’, as Marks & Spencer, Cadbury, or any other consumer savvy organisation will testify. However, at present, only 8% of investors currently have green and ethical investments.
This represents a fantastic and sizable opportunity, which some advisers have grabbed to great effect. According to a Robeco and Booz & Co report, green and ethical investing will grow to such an extent that by 2015 it will account for nearly one pound in every five invested. There’s plenty of opportunity and plenty of help to get there.
National Ethical Investment Week, which runs from 8 – 14 November aims to help financial advisers capitalise on this market. Organised by UKSIF the sustainable investment and finance association, NEIW is a campaign to ensure that everyone knows that they have green and ethical options when it comes to their finance and investment decisions. The week is sponsored by Aviva Investors, CCLA Investment Management, The Cooperative Financial Services and Henderson New Star. It is also supported by the Association of Independent Financial Advisers .
NEIW is running events across the country to help consumers and advisers better understand green and ethical investments. There’s also a free online training course for IFAs at www.neiw.org.
If Copenhagen can be a milestone for the world, it might just be one for your business, too.
Penny Shepherd MBE, chief executive of UKSIF
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