Week of ethical investment promotions 'set for success'

Ethical investing is to be promoted in the second annual National Ethical Investment Week (NEIW).

The week of events, which is organised by sustainable finance organisation UKSIF and takes place on November 8th-14th, will see UK financial firms come together to sell the benefits of socially responsible investing to private banking clients and others.

Ethical investments are often structured around specialised funds, which promise to only put money into firms which do not damage the environment or communities around the world.

Funds of this type have been available in the UK since the mid-1980s.

Peter Michaelis at Aviva Investors, one of the firms sponsoring the events, said: ’As a committed advocate of sustainable and responsible investment, we welcome the opportunity to broaden the debate around green and ethical investing.

’The response to the event last year was extremely encouraging and has helped to push green and ethical products higher up the mainstream agenda - we look forward to building on that this year.’

NEIW could provide a welcome boost for ethical funds in the UK, which have been suffering over recent months as markets have improved.

While the FTSE 100 itself is up by almost 40 per cent since March, ethical investment funds experienced a net outflow of £18 million over April-June, according to the Investment Management Association.

Inflows of £45.9 million were experienced in the sector over January-March 2009. ADNFCR-2318-ID-19348838-ADNFCR