Sustainable investment shows no sign of fading away as the world adjusts to the new normal. Institutional and retail investors across Europe are turning to concepts such as sustainability and social responsibility for security in the wake of the financial crisis. Straws in the wind include figures showing the UK’s retail investor has more money in green and ethical funds than ever before; annual growth in social responsible investment assets in France of 70 per cent; and a report from Germany showing institutional investors are looking to the sustainable investment process as a source of risk management. “The financial crisis has highlighted quite neatly the dangers of focusing on the short term,” says Mark Robertson at Eiris, the UK-based ethical research group, which found there was £9.5bn (€11.2bn, $13.7bn) in ethical and green funds at end 2009. Image: ecologicmedia.org. More…

Source: Financial Times