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Green Investing–The Gold Rush

080811_bp1.jpgGreen investing is growing up. Previously the province of a small number of investors who chased an even smaller number of companies, the market for environmental technology has expanded dramatically in recent years. And it has captured investors’ wallet share along the way. Inflows into green funds totaled $766 million for the year ending May 31, according to Morningstar, compared with $37 million in net outflows from religious funds over same time period. (Morningstar tracks these two subcategories under the umbrella of socially responsible investing, or SRI, funds). “The interest has turned from ‘maybe I’ll dabble in this’ to ‘this is an asset class I should include in my portfolio,'” says Jerry Moskowitz, president of FTSE Americas. Surging fuel prices have helped make green technology one of the biggest equity growth areas in the U.S., says John Quealy, a green tech analyst at Canaccord Adams, an independent financial services firm in Boston. New products are keeping pace. Mutual funds represent the largest share of socially and environmentally screened funds, with $171.7 billion in total net assets invested across 173 different funds, according to the Social Investment Forum’s 2007 Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States. Exchange-traded funds accounted for only 1% of the total assets of all socially and environmentally screened funds at the beginning of 2007, but their ranks are growing daily. (…) Robinson won’t hold companies that are at all “dirty.” For example, he won’t own BP, even though the British oil company is also developing alternative energies. Don Rogers, executive director of Virginia United Methodist Pensions, won’t invest in conglomerates with more than 10% of their income from any combination of alcohol, firearms and gambling. Green investors also line up on different sides of the nuclear power divide, with some embracing the technology as an attractive alternative to fossil fuels and others shunning it as expensive, a cause of toxic waste and prone to accidents or terrorist attacks. Image source : 3dcliparts.com > Continue.

News selected by Covalence | Region: Global | Company: BP | Source: Financial Planning

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