Green Investing

"Green Investing" refers to buying shares in companies that are environmentally friendly or support social causes. As an investor in environmentally responsible companies, you can determine what companies align with your own social and environmental views or you can rely on several socially responsible mutual funds to make the determination and investment for you. In any case, socially responsible investing typically means that you are at least as interested in a social or environmental cause as you are in the return on your investment. In other words, environmentally responsible investing is an attempt to align your financial goals with a personal commitment to the environment.

Several times in history, socially responsible investing has risen as a priority for investors. For example, the early Quakers in the U.S. refused to profit from companies invested in the slave trade. Human rights was again an issue two centuries later when public outcry to direct capital away from companies that profited from apartheid in South Africa led to social change.

You will want to be sure and understand the investment objectives and past performance before investing. While many social investment funds have specific investment objectives, most socially and environmentally responsible mutual funds seek objectives similar to the following:

• Invest in companies whose products and services contribute to a safe and healthy environment. Investors promote environmental solutions and leadership by investing in well-managed, environmentally responsible companies.
• Be a shareholder activist by making small investments in less responsible companies in an effort to influence corporate behavior and promote environmental responsibility. Through shareholder advocacy, socially responsible investing brings investors' beliefs to corporate boardrooms across the country.
• Target investments where it will have the greatest positive social impact including responsibly investing in companies whose product lines that are ecologically superior to their competition.
• Identify companies that use ecological principles as a driver for new product design such as developing vitally needed technologies to provide cleaner energy.
• Exclude companies with significant business activities in tobacco, gambling, nuclear energy, or weapons and companies with negative performance in the areas of employee relations, human rights, community involvement, or product safety.

A sample of green investing mutual funds is listed below:

• www.portfolio21.com
• http://newalternativesfund.com/
• www.greeninvestment.com

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