Supporting growth in sustainable investment
SRI Services was set up by Julia Dreblow in 2010 to help change how people invest.
Our main service – the Fund EcoMarket database tool – was launched in 2011. Its purpose is to help financial advisers and other intermediaries to understand and compare sustainable, responsible and ethical investment funds, so that they can match client aims to fund options.
By bringing together information about all of the many different, but often complimentary, ‘sustainable, responsible and ethical investment’ (SRI) strategies and approaches we aim to make these funds easier to research, understand, compare – and recommend to clients.
Fund EcoMarket is free to use because we believe it is important that there are no barriers to finding out about sustainable investment fund strategies – it is kindly paid for by our fund partners whose funds are listed first. The site is designed for UK based financial advisers but open to all.
Other areas of work
In addition to running our free to use tool we work with a number of providers of adviser and client facing services who require support in this area.
Julia has specialised in sustainable investment for over 25 years and is well known for her passion for the area – other areas of work include consultancy, media, training, speaking at events and policy work.
Previous experience
Julia was formerly the SRI Marketing Manager at Friends Provident (who launched the UK’s first ethical fund), where she worked for 12 years having first learnt about this area whilst at NPI (1989-1994).
Fund EcoMarket (launched in its current form in 2015) and now boasts circa 2,000 users every month. The fund tool was the winner of ‘Best Sustainable & ESG Support Services Provider or Consultancy’ 2021 (Investment Week) and has been a finalist in a number of SRI awards including ‘Best SRI Research Provider’ finalist 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2021 (Investment Week). It was also runner up in the 2015 Corporation of London Sustainable City Awards (Sustainable Finance category) – and shortlisted again in 2016 (when the relevant category ceased to exist).
(Workload has prevented us from entering awards since 2021.)
Our approach to Net Zero and sustainability
Most people care about people and the planet, but too few build their personal preferences into investment decision making.
The part all investors must play in accelerating the transition to a sustainable future is crucial. SRI Services was set up to help change how people invest – primarily by sharing information about what different funds are designed to do and how they operate. Our purpose is to enable financial services intermediaries – and ultimately individual investors – to play their part in supporting and encouraging higher sustainability standards.
Much of the data we collect and present is therefore focused on climate change and achieving Net Zero (greenhouse gas emissions) .
Our view is that doing so as well as possible is out most important contribution to Net Zero.
However we are also aware moving our own business to Net Zero is also important. Our business is mostly online and operates primarily from its founders’ home, so personal and business aspects are inseparable, however the actions we have taken to date are as follows:
About the information we present
We are passionate about ensuring the best possible ‘SRI’ specific information reaches advisers and their clients. We gather information directly from managers and present their fund information exactly as it is supplied to us – the only exception is if we find obvious errors. We do however set ‘SRI Styles’ classification ourselves.
By working in this way, we allow fund managers to present their fund strategies in their own words, explaining their aims, expertise and areas of focus. This information, alongside the filters and fields we ask them to select from help to make funds’ points of differentiation (and similarities) easier to identify and compare.
Our view is that this combination is the best way to enable intermediaries to compare what these funds do and why – guarding against the risk of researcher bias and information being lost in translation!
As you will see although many of these funds consider the same (or similar) high level issues, when you drill down to into fund strategies both the specific issues they consider and the fund objectives vary significantly. And rightly so – as clients’ aims and opinions are often highly personal and as such vary greatly!
Our hope and expectation is that the information we present here helps you to match client aims to fund options as easily and effectively as possible…
Our mission
To change the way people invest.
We are working to help change how people invest by making it easier for financial services intermediaries to bring environmental, social and ethical considerations into investment planning. We do this by providing fund information and related intermediary support for free – which ensures it is available to all.
What is Fund EcoMarket?
Fund EcoMarket is a free to use online database of information on sustainable, responsible and ethical investment (SRI) funds. The site is designed for financial advisers but ‘open source’ as SRI Services’ core mission is to raise awareness of investment options that take environmental and social issues and opportunities seriously.
The database is ‘whole of market’, listing all onshore, regulated, retail, screened and themed SRI funds – plus a few carefully selected additional options.
Fund EcoMarket filter options help users to find funds that meet clients’ personal aims and objectives. The site carries a wealth of support information and tools to help guide advisers in this area. This includes the SRI StyleFinder fact find support tool, which helps clients identify their best fit ‘SRI Styles’.
The site is free to use thanks to the support of our fund manager partners. Partner funds are listed first, with their logos displayed.
SRI Services’ research comes directly from fund managers and is transposed onto the site as received to avoid ‘research bias’. The tool is regularly updated and is ‘for information only’. SRI Services is not regulated and can not offer advice. We do not make recommendations or endorse specific products.