A new milestone in ethical investment at global level has been laid today, as four Swedish government pension funds have excluded an armaments firm from their portfolio, for alleged breaches of ethical conduct.
Acting on the advice of their Ethical Council, the Swedish funds have terminated their investments in the Israeli company Elbit Systems, which supplies a surveillance system for parts of the West Bank barrier. Elbit Systems had ignored repeated invitations to clarify disputed allegations that it was linked to violations of international rights conventions.
This follows a similar ethical stance taken in 2009 by Norway’s pension fund, which withdrew from investment in the tobacco industry.
Ethical Investments now possible for all
Ethical investment is now an option for every investor, at personal level, through a growing range of ethical investment funds.
Ethical funds choose the companies where they invest based on negative screening or positive screening.
Funds using negative screening avoid certain industries they deem to be unethical, based on those companies’ activities or products. These may include tobacco companies, companies associated with animal testing, deforestation, meat production, nuclear power, pollution, military, or worker exploitation.
Positive ethical investments go one step further, and favour a range of activities generally supported by ethical investors, such as biodiversity, environmental products, renewable energies, sustainable forestry, and water management.
Ethical investments are an easily accessible way to ‘vote with your cash’, and build an ethical stance into your personal financial planning.
