How to check you are investing with Environmental, Social and Governance principles?

In our second blog for Good Money Week we look at the screening process we use to ensure your investment is ethical, responsible and sustainable. To invest in this way we work with Environmental, Social and Governance principles, these are a set of criteria that help us assess the sustainability and ethical practices of a company as follows:

• The environmental factor will consider a company’s impact on the environment, this will include its use of energy, how it deals with its waste, how much pollution the company generates and animal welfare.
• The social factor will take in to considering the company’s impact on the local community, their human rights policies and consumer protection.
• Governance will consider how the company operates with its employees, stakeholders and internal affairs.

When you instruct us to help find you a socially conscious investment we will ask you to fill in a screening questionnaire.  The questionnaire covers negative & positive criteria for investments.

Negative Criteria

Negative criteria screening will screen out any companies who are involved in a particular type of negative criteria business, for example tobacco, alcohol, pornography, gambling, animal testing, armaments and those that may support the use of fossil fuels or have a negative impact human rights.

Positive screening

When looking at the positive screening aspect we consider things like positive animal welfare practices, climate change impact, positive human rights practices and companies with good policies and practices directed at the community or other social causes.

Using our bespoke screening process we consider all the negative and positive criteria with you, it means we can screen investments more effectively, ensuring we understand what issues are of concern to you alongside your financial needs, allowing us to find the best investment for you.

If you would like the full list of negative and positive criteria or to discuss your future investment then please email us at or call 01392 346464.