Good question. To us ethical investing means uncompromising returns: we don’t compromise on our values (hopefully your values too!), and we don’t compromise on seeking a financial return for our members.
At Verve, we don’t believe it’s good enough to just screen out a few harmful industries like fossil fuels, weapons and tobacco. We really want to create change. That means having a robust screening process in place and seeking out investments that will leave the world in a better place than before we started investing.
There’re three steps to how we invest ethically.
- We screen out companies and industries that we believe are engaged in harmful practices, i.e. no nasties like direct revenue from the mining, extraction, burning or transportation of fossil fuels.
- We seek investment opportunities that have a positive impact on addressing climate change or social inequality, like investing in renewable energy infrastructure, disability housing, healthcare, education and healthy food production.
- We balance our investments and ensure adequate diversification to deliver returns without unnecessary risk.
You can read more on our ethical investing page.