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Title:Ethical investments: don’t buy a pig in a poke
Date of publishing:September 20, 2011
Hits:373
Category:Other content
Language:English
Also available in the following languages:Dutch, French

Ethical investments: don’t buy a pig in a poke

With your investments you do not only want to achieve financial return, but you also want people and the environment to benefit from your money. In that case you will easily go for an ethical investment product. Lots of financial institutions offer ethical investment products nowadays. However, there are many differences in terms of depth and scope of the criteria which are used. In many cases the standard set out by Forum ETHIBEL with its Ethibel PIONEER and Ethibel EXCELLENCE labels are not attained. Yet, only funds meeting this standard are ethical in the most fundamental meaning of the word. Three elements are crucial.

  1. Investments are only made in companies which are score strongly on all domains of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and which are not involved in serious controversies.
  2. Companies are not only screened on the basis of generally available data (annual report, public reports, ...) and information generated by the company itself. Information from stakeholders is integrated and there is an active dialogue with stakeholders (employees, trade unions, customers, supplier, shareholders, neighbours, NGOs operating in the field of the environment, peace, ...).
  3. Guarantees are given in terms of independence of investigation, in terms of ethical principles, integrity and professionalism and in terms of quality assurance.

 

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