Loading ...Mrs Smith – Arms Trader (aka un-ethical Investor)
Mrs Smith doesn’t realise it but she is complicit in the arms trade. Actually Mrs Smith is fictitious but she represents a large number of us that have pensions and funds containing un-ethical and un-green investments. These people are all equally responsible for the arms trade, exploitation of the environment and many more of ethical faux pas. If they all pulled out of their investments tomorrow, overnight we would change the world.
Many of us do not consciously know where our money goes. We pay money to intermediaries to manage our investments to gain in the future. Un-ethical/un-green investments have traditionally been money spinners. Whether we like it or not the economy is driven partly by gambling, exploitation of the environment, war and drugs. As wars rage across the planet, arms manufacturers increase business; tobacco is heavily marketed to children in developing countries and profits soar; Amazon cancer victims sue BP and BP respond: “prove that it is our oil that made you sick and not the oil of other companies.” There are 101 different examples of profit gained at the expense of others and the environment.
For the transition to a greener, more ethical economy each one of us has an implicit responsibility to ensure our money follows our values. Recently I shocked an employee in my local branch of HSBC because I didn’t want to take advantage of their savings account indicating their bank was propped up by unethical investments, and promptly informed them it was my intention to ‘escape the Bank as quickly as I could’. I left the branch, leaving them in denial about their employer’s investments, but highlighted that they had the capacity to investigate they doubted me.
The chief executive of FairPensions, Catherine Howarth has a softer approach to change, than to pull out. FairPensions method ‘is far subtler. It focuses instead on active investors scrutinising the decisions of their fund managers, and the companies they invest in, to bring their influence as owners to bear on company strategy.’ (Independent 2010). I believe in the hard line, time and time again finance systems have shown that all they really care about is profit at the expense of nature and people. Being soft doesn’t create change quick enough. Take the British Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), despite their Responsible Investment policy the USS still invests in arms traders like BAE, alongside tobacco and oil companies. (USS 2010)
Alternative funds and investments already exist, we don’t need to convince fund managers, we need to take decisions today. TransitionVert’s advice? – Pull out. Invest in purely green and ethical industries if you a share of future green gold.
Most countries have their own set of ethical and green investments. Use your favourite search engine to explore. Be careful, not everything labelled ‘green’ or ‘ethical’ necessarily is. Some charlatan investments are funding businesses that have decided to expend into so called ‘green’ ventures, but their staple profit streams are still un-green. Take your time to look at the detail of any investment to find out exactly where your money is going. If you don’t like it – move it.
We all have a choice, I’ve made mine, and as crazy as it sounds I’d rather be financially poor in old age, but rich in the knowledge that I had at least given the next generation a chance.
References
Universities Superannuation Scheme, Responsible Investment Policy, July 2010
Universities Superannuation Scheme, Top 100 ‘Responsibly Invested’ companies, July 2010
This post was written by Gareth
