Ethical Investing – How to have a positive impact with your portfolio

Appetite for ethical and sustainable investments has increased dramatically in recent years, as investors increasingly seek to avoid harmful corporate behaviour and support positive industries such as renewable energy and green alternatives to traditional waste management. While there are some universal values to which investors subscribe (such as avoiding modern slavery and cluster munitions, for example), however, the range of ethical investment choices can seem infinite to the uninitiated.

To help you understand ways you can invest with an ethical focus, Gemma Dale interviews Simon O’Connor, CEO of the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia, demystifying the jargon and covering such issues as:

• Whether investing with an ethical lens reduces your portfolio return,
• How to align your portfolio with your own personal values,
• Simple ways to introduce ethical, social and governance (ESG) factors to your investing decisions,
• Real examples of ESG done well – and poorly, and
• Hard-headed reasons to pay attention to sustainability issues, even if you’re not passionate about the cause.

You can access this and previous episodes of the Your Wealth podcast now on iTunes, Podbean or at nabtrade.com.au/yourwealth.