Invest in ethical stocks and shares

If you’ve got money to invest, look at snapping up stocks and shares in ethical companies.

Ethical investments will be more environmentally friendly and potentially offer better financial security in the long run.

The number of people asking financial advisers about ethical investments has jumped 100% during the past year and an increasing number of services and investment opportunities are now geared towards helping you to invest your money in green and ethical companies.

One of the most popular vehicles for investors with a conscience is an ethical investment fund. These often screen companies based on the amount of environmental damage they cause through their operations. So airlines, for instance, may be excluded while businesses which are carbon neutral, or at least moving a good way towards that aim, are more highly favoured for investment.

The right kind of ethical investments can support the development of businesses with a good environment policy while also sending out a strong message to companies currently excluded from the investment funds because of their environmentally-unfriendly policies and practices.

A greener investment is also likely to be a safer one too. Companies that generally meet the ethical investments criteria tend to be smaller than the big businesses dominating the FTSE100. Investing in these smaller, greener companies often poses less risk, being a more stable sector and not so prone to “boom and bust” scenarios.

And, as more and more consumers look towards a greener way of living, stocks in many green businesses are likely to rise as demand for their products and services grow.