the sustainable, responsible and ethical investment information hub
May 27th, 2022
Earlier this week I set out my initial response to HSBC’s head of Responsible Investment – Stuart Kirk’s – extraordinary presentation on climate risk (see blog linked below). In the interest of understanding different points of view – here is a collection of articles and opinions about his speech that we believe are relevant to […]
March 18th, 2022
A big thank you to our friends at Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts for publishing – and putting on the front cover – my latest piece on sustainable investment. You can download a pdf of the text here: 16-17 Purpose, Positioning and Priorities The text – as submitted – is below. Sent to Investment […]
March 1st, 2022
I am delighted to have been asked a few questions by Citywire this week. This link will take you to a piece in this weeks New Model Adviser where I was asked for some quick fire thoughts about sustainable investment and technology (with a slightly alarming photo!) In brief – yes, intermediaries can offer better, […]
February 9th, 2022
For those following the discussions around the all important topic of labelling sustainable investment funds you may be interested in an opinion piece I wrote for FT Adviser recently: You can access the article here. My thanks go to FT Adviser for offering me the opportunity to comment. My original text, as submitted, is […]
December 15th, 2021
Net Zero is rapidly becoming part of business as usual in UK financial services
December 2nd, 2021
A big thank you to ESG Clarity for inviting me to write a piece on the important topic of sustainable investment fund labelling. The first few paragraphs are copied below. Labels won’t save the planet but they help investors. ‘Words, research and analysis will not save a single tree – only action will’ Let’s start […]
November 10th, 2021
I have been asked to comment a number of times recently on what I think the recent regulatory announcements might mean for financial advisers. Although I have been appointed onto DLAG the future remains unwritten of course – but I did pull together a few thoughts for FT Adviser recently which I hope you may […]
October 4th, 2021
I am beyond delighted to be able to announce that SRI Services WON the Investment Week award for ‘The Best Sustainable & ESG Support Service Provider or Consultancy 2021′. We have not had the chance to request our winner ’tile’ yet – thanks to our event this Wednesday – but wanted to make this news […]
August 23rd, 2021
My thanks, once again, to Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts magazine for publishing my article on ‘the future of (sustainable) investment.’ The article is a roundup of the important regulatory developments that are emerging in this area – as well as the need for urgency in switching all investments onto a sustainable footing. The piece […]
May 18th, 2021
Our recent ILP Moneyfacts article exploring ESG fund strategies and ‘divestment vs stewardship’
March 8th, 2021
infographic showing diversity of retail ESG fund options
February 15th, 2021
This month’s Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts magazine has kindly published an article I have writen for them regarding the FCA’s proposed Sustainable Investment Principles which were first aired at our conference last year. You can download the article here: ILP Moneyfacts February 2021 Climate of Change As discussed in the article the principles remain […]
August 5th, 2020
I’m delighted to have been able to support Which? with their recent ethical investment report (and for both SRI Services & Fund EcoMarket to have earned a mention online and in their magazine.) The report is a good introduction to the sector and one individual investors are likely to find very useful, with quotes from […]
January 17th, 2020
BlackRock founder and CEO Larry Fink has been making headlines this week with the announcement on Tuesday (14/1/20) that BlackRock are making major changes to their business, putting sustainability – and in particular climate change – at the heart of their business operations. This is a welcome and important development. Some commentators have pointed out […]
November 18th, 2019
The Investment Association’s long awaited Responsible Investment framework launched today (18 November 2019). Although I am yet to digest the detail, this looks entirely constructive to me. The IA team have differentiated between different fund options sensibly {thereby avoiding the ‘binary thinking trap’) and recognised the relevance of both individual funds and fund management companies. […]
November 13th, 2019
Recent media coverage, generated in part in response to a recent report by SCM*, indicates that greenwash fears are growing apace. This is of course a huge shame as when we talk about funds that focus on environmental, social and ethical issues we would all much rather be talking about their benefits relative to their […]
September 10th, 2019
SRI Services is delighted to announce that we have been working with interactive investor in the development of their ‘ACE’ list of ethical, sustainable, ESG, impact and responsible investment funds. The list, which is now live on their website, shows all the funds in this sector (none are excluded) alongside ‘jargon free’ classifications. Each fund […]
July 12th, 2019
For a great overview of the SRI / ESG / Ethical fund market you might like to take a look at this month’s Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts deep dive article – attached here – which I am delighted to be quoted in, alongside our good friends at EdenTree, King & Shaxson – and survey […]
July 9th, 2019
Media release 9 July 2019 Use of the Fund EcoMarket (SRI) fund tool has trebled over 12 months – with users indicating growing interest in both sustainability and ethical issues. Figures released today by SRI Services point to rapidly growing interest in environmental, social and ethical investment in the retail (individual) investment market. Use of […]
June 13th, 2019
Women in Financial Advice Awards 2019 I am delighted to have been informed that I am a Finalist in this years ‘Woman of the Year Award – Adviser Support Services’ category. This is much welcome recognition of many years spent helping advisers to bring environmental, social and ethical issues into investment planning… Onward & upward! […]
April 5th, 2019
The Global Sustainable Investment Alliance (the international network of SIFs, that includes friends at UKSIF and Eurosif) has this week published its biennial global market report covering the period 2016-18 The report shows substantial growth in sustainable and responsible investment assets under management across all areas – with the exception of the EU as a […]
July 12th, 2018
Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts magazine’s front page piece this month is devoted to ‘sustainable, responsible and ethical investment’. The editorial, which you can read here focuses on the shifts in regulation that have been a lightbulb moment for investors – who are increasingly recognising the importance of environmental and social issues. The article includes a […]
May 22nd, 2018
The issue of plastics is never far from our screens at the moment and the public outcry following Blue Planet 2 last year was pretty much unprecedented… Addressing this challenge will take time and needs the support of fund managers and other investors if we are to encourage companies to change what they do within the […]
May 17th, 2018
My newsletters seem to be becoming increasingly rare … however one was eventually finalised and issued today! You can read about Fund EcoMarket updates and SRI news via today’s newsletter here. Topics include recent article links, news and the date of our next Good Money Week event! Happy browsing!
March 6th, 2018
With rapidly growing interest in the area of how investments can have a positive impact I was recently asked by FTAdviser to write a brief article on this topic. In case you missed it amidst all the weather inflicted chaos last week you can view the full article here, or read the text below. ===== Ethical/SRI February […]
December 19th, 2017
My latest article in Investment Life and Pensions Moneyfacts looks at some of the key messages from UKSIF’s Good Money Week 2017.
It also talks through some of the very different ways investors can offer ‘good’ options for investors, the changing SRI/ESG regulatory backdrop, some thoughts on ‘impact’, the UN SDGs and the great ‘labels and taxonomies’ debate.
London Climate Week event on 28 & 29 June I happily agreed to become involved with a major London Climate Week event run by Reset Connect some time ago. The event is now only two weeks away. I did so mostly because I am always keen to help and encourage intermediaries to learn about climate issues […]
Earlier this week I set out my initial response to HSBC’s head of Responsible Investment – Stuart Kirk’s – extraordinary presentation on climate risk (see blog linked below). In the interest of understanding different points of view – here is a collection of articles and opinions about his speech that we believe are relevant to […]
…and has now been rightly suspended by HSBC. There is so much to say on this story, but let me start by saying I have no desire to ‘bash’ HSBC. Big banks are imperfect and have, in my view, propped up the fossil fuel industry for far too long – but that is not what […]