選擇倫理投資並不是意味著你必須放棄多樣化的投資組合。環保不僅僅是可循環能源以及咖啡的公平貿易。自從全球經濟衰退以來，投資者主要關心現金的保值以及可以帶來收益的股票。很多人非常願意成為倫理投資者，但是他們中存在的常見誤解是：為了支持綠色產業，他們必須放棄盈利的穩定性。
事實遠非如此。倫理投資是一個比很多人想象大得多的投資領域。傳統的倫理投資——指的是“深黑色”，確實對投資途徑有很多限制，篩選掉了那些“不道德”的產業，比如煙酒，動物實驗，石油以及武器裝備公司。
那些不支持與降低二氧化碳有關的某些工廠貨制造業的零售商是不達標的。最古老的倫理基金（F&C 基金管理）甚至拒絕投資金融公司，因為金融公司基本不會對環境以及社會產生任何影響。
但是“淺綠色”基金——或者社會責任投資(SRI)——僅僅投資那些產業領域裡最好的、比同行更負有倫理責任的公司。許多SRI在墨西哥灣石油洩漏之前甚至持有英國石油公司（BP）股票，因為它作為能源巨頭，相對於同行，採用了一種對社會更加負責的操作方式。
盡管這兩種基金都自己描述為“倫理”投資基金，但是也都會投資那些與生態產業不相關的領域——比如英國標準人壽道德基金投資沃達豐(VOD)、巴克萊(BARC)和在線零售商Asos。
這意味著，建立一個穩定的，多元化的倫理投資組合是很有可能的。倫理投資者選擇基金公司時，可以選擇那些得益於減少生態足迹或者致力於減少生態足迹的公司，比如Impax環境市場或者木星生態基金。Impax基金經理Hubert Aarts說，“倫理投資不會阻礙投資組合的成功，事實上，它可以保護投資者免受未來的虧損”、“經營良好的公司，致力於強大的穩定性以及良好的管理，大多數都會有優越的長期表現。英國銀行的管理不善讓我們痛苦地意識到它們長期的負面影響。公司對管理的疏忽是另外一層風險。”
Aarts也認為，倫理投資也符合全球對強大的、長期的風險調整收益率推動力。“世界人口正在迅速增長，”他說。“我們看到了發展中國家的強大的資金產生能力以及相繼的消費改變。將來，我們將會不可避免地生活在水資源短缺地區，水資源短缺將會隨著農業的改變、極端氣候的增加或者長期氣候的改變而加劇。”
與此相關的市場領域的增長速度比其他領域增速快得多，並且需求持續上升。那些忽略這些基本的經濟推動力將會錯過巨大的獲利空間，因為它們未來十年的投資前景將會超過整體經濟並且與長期的倫理投資的利益一致。
What is Ethical Investing?
Choosing to invest ethically does not mean you have to say goodbye to a diversified portfolio. Going green equals more than just renewable energy and fair trade coffee
Read more on ethical and sustainable investing in Morningstar's Ethical Investing Week 2013.
Since the global recession investors have – rightly so – been concerned primarily with cash preservation and income paying stocks. While many would like to think of themselves as ethical investors, the common misconception is they would have to do-away with stability in order to support green industry.
But this is not the case. Ethical investing is a considerably broader sector than many imagine. Traditional ethical funds – referred to as “dark green”, do take a very restrictive approach to investing, screening out stocks that are involved in “unethical” industries such as alcohol, animal testing, tobacco, oil and armament firms.
Retailers that do not uphold certain factory conditions or manufacturing companies that do not comply with reduced carbon initiatives also fail to make the grade. The oldest ethical fund F&C Stewardship even originally refused to invest in financial companies because their practices included little consideration of environmental and social impacts.
But light green funds – or socially responsible investment (SRI) – simply invest in best of class, companies across all industries who are more ethically responsible than their peers. Many SRI funds even held BP (BP.) before the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as the energy giant operated in a more socially responsible way than its peers.
While both these funds would describe themselves as “ethical” they will contain companies that investors would not associate with ecological industries – such as the Standard Life UK Ethical fund which invests in Vodafone (VOD), Barclays (BARC) and online retailer Asos (ASC).
This means it is possible to build a stable, well diversified portfolio while investing ethically.
Investors who which to take the remit further can do – some funds only invest in companies that benefit from or are engaged in the reduction of climate change. Investors looking for more concentrated exposure to green industry should consider a targeted ethical fund such Impax Environmental Markets (IEM) or Jupiter Ecology ( Bronze rated). Impax fund manager Hubert Aarts says that far from hindering a portfolio’s success, ethical screening actually protects investors from future losses.
“Well managed companies, committed to strong sustainability and good governance, generally demonstrate superior long term performance. We are all painfully aware of the result of years of poor governance within the UK banks and the far reaching impact this continues to have. The omission of companies that don’t deliver on these practices is simply another layer of risk reduction,” he said.
Aarts also believes that ethical investment is in tune with global drivers for strong long term risk-adjusted returns.
“The world population is growing rapidly,” he said. “We are seeing massive wealth creation in developing countries and subsequent changes in consumption. In future more of us will inevitably live in water stressed areas and water shortages will be further exacerbated by changes in agriculture and an increase in extreme weather patterns and possibly longer term climate change.”
Markets associated with this movement are growing considerably faster than most other sectors, and demand continues to rise.
He continued: “Investors who ignore these fundamental economic drivers could miss out on an enormous opportunity for value creation. The prospect that these markets will outperform the wider economy over the next decade, and beyond, resonates strongly with a broad-based interest in long-term ethical investing.”
本文翻譯由兄弟財經提供，文章來源：http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/112780/what-is-ethical-investing.aspx