"Mine’s not a moral argument. If you’re investing and not thinking about it, you’re going to miss out."

 

There's no such thing as infinite growth

“Mine’s not really a moral argument. I think that’s a really difficult one to make, but I think on a social level it’s very clear that we need to change a lot of things.

“The world doesn’t have infinite resources, as is often assumed in financial models, and this changes everything about the decisions we make.

“We’re now entering a phase where growth is slower. In the past, if we look at our parents’ generation for instance, they were able to put money into a pension and it would grow quite well over time into multiples of itself. But general long-term growth projections for shares are now lower than they’ve historically been."

Sustainability is making your own resources last

"If we think about young people today, the outlook in terms of financial security is, I think, absolutely terrifying. So I’m interested in ways we can connect young people’s finances more directly to sustainable impact. If your investment manager isn’t mindful of and investing in line with that then they aren’t going to make the right choices for you or the planet.

“Humans are amazingly resilient and ingenious, so as long as we manage to set the goal for ourselves and say that’s what we want to do, I believe we can get there. If you’re investing and not thinking about it, you’re going to miss out.”

 

Help me pick an investment fund

If, like Brigitte, you're more interested in growing your savings than saving the world, but you still don't want to cause any harm, the following option is worth reading up on. Or have a look at a bigger range with The Share Centre's 'Climate Change & Renewable Energy' list, the ii ACE 30 'Avoids' list, or Morningstar's 'No Sin Stocks' list on our Sustainable Savers home page. 

(We asked some of the leading names in sustainable investing to recommend a fund or two they like for our Sustainable Savers. This isn’t a personal recommendation and we’re not giving financial advice. Food for thought only, folks.)

 

Moira O'Neill, Head of Personal Finance at Interactive Investor, suggests...

BMO Responsible Global Equity

“This is suitable for investors who want to beat a stock market benchmark over the long term but want a well-diversified actively managed fund that may be more concentrated that its peers but is more risk aware.

"The fund has delivered consistently superior performance and has experienced managers. The fund is ethically screened and will invest only in companies whose products and operations are not considered to be harming the world, its people or its wildlife and are making a positive contribution to society.”

A few more fund suggestions