Eco-investing is a growing term used to signify someone investing with a conscious thought towards the environment. This type of green investing is fast growing, as with many eco-conscious people who have an interest in sustainability, the environment and hopefully creating a strong financial future through investing. Now, before I go on, to make things clear I am not a financial advisor and not very well versed in the subject of investing at all. Therefore, you should not think of any of this as financial advice. However, I am investing to hopefully make a return, whilst making a conscious effort to not negatively impact the world just to line my own pockets. Always remember you could lose all the money you invest, so you should only do so if you have money to spare and are willing to take that risk. Additionally, if you want advice on your own finances and investment goals I would advise you to speak to a finance advisor. This blog post is to give you an insight to eco-investing, some things you might want to consider when investing and what I am doing to invest sustainably.
What is eco-investing?
Eco-investing, sustainable investing or green investing is a way of investing in companies that provide environmentally friendly products and/or practices. It is also a form of socially responsible investing. Developing a conscious awareness for the environment should reach to all aspects of your life. This should reach to any endeavours you have, including investing. Therefore, looking at investing in companies that help mitigate any negative impact they have or even help the environment is crucial in this goal. Yet, as seen with many of the rich, famous and conglomerates they will do anything to further grow their own wealth with no care for the environment or even society as whole. Eco-investing is a way to potentially grow your wealth but with a conscience, helping our future to be green and sustainable.
Should you invest?
You are likely already investing through your pension plan, where eco-investing can also apply. However, if you are asking if you should invest outside your pension then this is a personal choice you need to make yourself. This is because it depends on your personal circumstance, as well as your goals and ambitions. Investing can be incredibly risky but also rewarding and only you can decide whether it is right for you. I never invest money I don’t have and understand I might lose all the money I have invested but I am also happy to take that risk in the hopes that it will increase. Most of the research I have found shows how if you invest for the long term, you will typically end up in the positive and if you do it for long enough it can drastically increase your wealth. As I have mentioned, you should do some research, be aware of the risks and your opportunity cost and if you believe it is right for you, give it a shot. I also advise if you are not sure or want specific investing advice relevant to you to seek a financial advisor.
Why does investing concern the environment?
Essentially, where you put your money dictates what companies do. This goes for where you store your money, what you buy, as well as where you invest. The more that people buy eco-friendly, sustainable items, products or investments and demand companies to supply them the more eco-friendly versions we will get and it is growing fast. This makes the world a better place. We do not just want our products to be eco-friendly, we want the companies making them to also be green. When you invest your money goes to helping a company grow and develop and continue to provide their product or service. Therefore, your money is going towards that company's impacts, ethics and practices (good and bad). Unfortunately, there are too many companies doing terrible things to nature, society, the environment and our planet just to make money. However, there are also companies that do care and are leading the way for a greener future. This is why you can invest to hopefully make money but also back these great companies.
What am I doing?
Well I hope to invest in several ways that of course meet my ethics of being green and environmental, which I will be sure to continue to track and blog on here. However, due to my limited time to properly search individual stocks and shares I wouldn’t know where to begin, at least yet. As I mentioned above, I am thinking of the long term. For me this is 20-30+ years and I understand that one of the easiest ways to do this is with index funds. This should help outperform inflation and can often outperform the top investment banker. Therefore, this is going to be my strategy, to simply invest into index funds, which meet my personal ethics and which I hope creates the foundations of my investment portfolio.
What I needed first was an investment platform that allows you to buy stock, funds and indexes. I have chosen Vanguard, as I have heard it mentioned by many to be a good platform with relatively low fees. Through this, I have then looked for two key phrases, this is Social responsible Investing (SRI’s) and Environmental, Social Governance (ESG’s). This is what I am going to invest in ESG and SRI funds. To be exact I have invested in several funds that track these, one ESG Index fund, one ESG emerging markets index fund and one SRI Stock fund to name a few. I have gone into depth these terms below:
What is ESG?
Now, when thinking of sustainability and looking at a group of stocks or an index that allows your investments to be spread across multiple industries, locations but with ethics you might want to look for ESG funds. ESG stands for Environment, Social, Governance, which are three broad categories that are also linked with “socially responsible investors” (more below). It is a general term used by investors that looks at evaluating corporate behaviour to determine if a company meets social and environmental criterias, better than other typical stocks. ESG is a growing term and is quickly growing interest, especially in the younger generation of investors. Some of the things ESG funds focus on when evaluating a company's sustainability is the following;
Environmentally a number of categories might be reviewed such as the company's carbon footprint, water disposal, climate change policies, energy consumption and recycling efforts, etc.
Socially a company will be reviewed in regards to how it addresses issues with its employees, suppliers and customers etc. This will be looking at compensation, benefits, training, consumer protection, ethical supply chain and safety precautions to list a few.
Governance wise it will look at the ethics of the business, the management and business independence. This will look at the history of the company's legal issues, shareholder voting rights, addressing conflict of interest, and other ethical business practices.
What is SRI?
SRI stands for Socially Responsible Investing and is another term to note ‘green’, ethical and sustainable developments. Like ESGs it looks to create a financial return but also environmental and social good, creating a positive change. This again has a rigorous investment standard to identify those companies that can meet this criteria but still give a competitive return. The goal is about making a positive social impact, so again better than your generic stocks that could drastically harm our planet and in the long run does not benefit society.
My Strategy
I have chosen to passively invest into index funds as they are a collective of stocks/companies that overall reduce your risk by spreading your investment. There are also many to choose from including ones that are ESGs and SRIs. To do this I have used Vanguard as it appears to be a well known investment platform and they offer a number of funds that meet my criteria. I am then going to invest in several of them using pound cost averaging (dollar cost averaging, etc.) This is when you invest regularly (drip feeding) into your investment. I am using this strategy as I do not have a large sum of money and it allows me to slowly build up my portfolio over time. Also, as it is nearly impossible to accurately time the market it allows me to continue to buy across multiple years giving me an average purchasing price. As the market typically heads upwards this will hopefully show a positive that outperforms inflation. My strategy is long term to either boost my pension, allow me to retire early, and possibly even create generational wealth for my family, so we are talking 20-40 years. It is a patience game but one that I believe will work out.
What’s Next?
Well, I hope to do some more posts about eco-friendly, sustainable and green finances, so you can make your own decision about what to do with your money. I also intend to continue updating on my financial achievements and goals to hold myself accountable and hopefully prove it can be a viable option to grow your wealth, while caring for the planet. I want to look into more areas of my finances including the banks I use, the pensions I have and potential other investments I might undertake. My goal in all of this is to highlight the potential way to grow your wealth, while not backing companies that destroy the planet. This post is to show one of the ways I have begun investing consciously based on my own research. However, I would love to hear the companies or industries you have backed or believe are worthy of investing taking ethics, sustainability and society into account.
Updated: Feb 14
There are so many little changes you can make in your house to help the environment or at least mitigate your negative impact on it. You might also be on a mission to go sustainable, eco-friendly and become a carer for the planet. Therefore, another great place to do this is in your kitchen. I have collated a list of some of the top alternatives you can make that will help you with this. Many of these focus on reducing waste, which often contributes to the ever growing mountain of rubbish. Well to help you go zero waste and to your greener future I have collated my top 10 changes that you can make in your kitchen to help you achieve this goal and live a more sustainable, green and eco-friendly life:
You might have seen these in some beautiful picturesque Instagram photos. Well there is a reason for this, as they do look great and can work brilliantly at helping you reduce your waste. These eco-friendly glass jars can come in a range of sizes and can be filled with a ton of different items but once you have them you can stop contributing to our growing waste from the often unnecessary packaging. You can do this by buying at your local eco-store where you can fill your new reusable container. They often have a high initial cost but can be used for many, many years. I always advise glass jars, as glass is easily recyclable and it means you do not contribute to plastic waste. Here are some suggestions of what you can use them for:
Spaghetti
Pasta
Rice
Flour
Dried fruits and mushrooms
Corn (for popcorn)
Sugar
Coffee
Nuts
Lentils
Pulses
Herbs and spices
Another zero waste item to add to your eco home is dish soap. If you are keen at getting rid of your plastic waste and to stop contributing to those pesky micro plastics, soap bars are the way forward. Luckily, there are plenty of companies producing these for all sorts of uses including dish soaps. I appreciate that some people find bars sometimes doesn’t quite cut it, so I believe it is worth mentioning you can always get a reusable bottle and refill it up at a local eco-store.
I have used these for years and think they work better than a normal sponge to clean your dishes. Natural loofahs, luffas, Egyptian cucumber or even its botanical name Luffa aegyptiaca, whatever name you use are part of a plant in the cucumber family. These are completely natural and can even be grown in your own home. You can pick them up at most places now, including your local eco-store and easily online. They do not need to be used to just clean your dishes, you can put them elsewhere to clean the house, in the bath, basically anything you may need to scrub.
I understand some people do not like to use a loofah sponge or might find it is not strong enough for the hard baked in food. Therefore, you need something a little stiffer to help scrub your plates, trays, dishes, pots and pans clean. Well luckily there are a number of options you can chose from. Many zero waste companies produce natural, plastic free and biodegradable scrubber, which often use wood handles and often using natural fibres (often from the coconut or the sisal plant).
I picked up a couple of these a while ago, one I use for a home fertiliser spray for my plants and another for cleaning. There is not much to say but many companies offer a glass spray bottle, which you can then use with an ever growing number of cleaning solutions. A quick search online and you can find some great eco-friendly recipes you can mix yourself to create a perfect solutions that can help you make your kitchen sparkle. Alternatively, I have seen small pods that you can chuck into the spray bottle and fill up with water to create a cleaning solution. Take some time, experiment and see what solution works for you and you can stop buying these often environmentally harmful chemicals and its copious amounts of plastic waste.
I use these all the time and they continue to be very useful. Whenever I have some food left over or some items I want to preserve I put them in a bowl and put one of these useful silicone lids on top. They come in a wide range of sizes, allowing them to be used for all sorts. This stops you using difficult to, incredibly frustrating, flimsy cling film to seal in your leftovers.
Similar to silicone lids you can get reusable bags, which again are often made from silicone. These reusable bags again help you reduce your waste by stopping you use plastic sandwich bags, Clingfilm or other harmful products. So pick up a reusable sandwich bags, just remember that you don’t have to use them just for sandwiches but can be for snack and I have even seen liquids that have been stored in them. You can also get them that can go in your freezer to store your left overs for longer.
A popular choice among the eco-conscious, bees wax wraps have been around for a long time and found their way into most supermarkets. These wraps are made from organic cotton infused with food-grade beeswax and organic jojoba oil and tree resin, which also can have antibacterial properties. Again these can be used similar to Clingfilm to wrap your sandwiches, rolls, cover bowls, wrap cut vegetables and more. I would say I find the larger ones the most useful, so try to get the biggest ones you can get. Again another great reusable alternative.
Going plastic free will greatly benefit the planet as well as your life. It is also great to find an eco-friendly alternative to an every day product like your dustpan and bush. Unfortunately, your dustpan and brush will often not last more than a few year but when typically being made out of plastic will be a scar on the earth for hundred of years. This is not to mention the microplastic a plastic duspan and brush will also cause and spread around your house. Therefore, I went on the mission to find a plastic free set, although it was hard I did find one (link below). I have now swapped to this wood handle with natural bristles and metal dustpan in a step toward my eco-friendly life.
Any Other containers:
It does not have to be glass but any bottle, container, you have, perhaps left over from your last food shop. They can then be used for anything you want such as pet food, cereal, soaps, essentially anything glass containers can be used for. This is obviously a lot cheaper and over time you can grow a collection and pick out the best containers for you and for what you want to pick up. As long as you reuse them and refill them up at your eco store and not contribute to the growing waste, you are doing your bit for the environment.
Bonus - Think Natural!:
When buying anything new always think of its entire life. Where did it come from and where will it go when you are finished with it. Pick items that are from renewable resources and that when disposed of will go back to the earth and not contribue to needless waste. On top of this is think abot the logevity of the item, always aim for anything you buy to last as long as it can. A great example that encompasses all this is the humble wooden chopping board, a much greater choice over these horrendous plastic ones you can get now.
There are tons of changes you can make throughout your house and I will be sure to make some other blog posts to detail them. However, here are my top eco kitchen swaps you can make to get you started. Although these are my recommendation, don’t let them stop you getting any other items that helps reduce your waste, the energy you use or any negative impact on the environment. There are many more things you can consider but if we can continue to move towards an environmentally friendly future by making little changes over time the world will be a better place for it.
Updated: Jul 18, 2023
Sustainability, ethics, eco-friendliness and being green is the future. It must be for the sake our planet, the wildlife and the human race as a whole. Yet unfortunately we aren’t all eco-friendly individuals or nearly as good as we can be. Yet as a community we are growing. On this blog I explore everything green from the environment to products that stop the harmful waste and help mitigate our daily negative impact on earth. Recently, I have thought about what are the barrier to going green, what is stoppping us as a planet (or at least in my country) from fully adopting a ‘green’ life. Therefore, I have pulled together what I consider to be the big barriers to going ‘Green’. Although this list could easily be very long trying to highlight all the issues with us going eco-conscious I have tried to highlight the mains ones I believe have the greatest impact. Here are my top reasons that prevent the majority adopting a green, sustainable and eco-friendly future.
Cost
Unfortunately, anything new will have a higher cost, this is mainly because it is new to the market, so might not have an instant ‘demand’ for the product. This often means they are produced in smaller quantities, which again will not be as efficient, increasing their costs. ‘Green’ products are also of a higher quality and use raw materials that are generally more expensive. They also have better ethics and have a lower negative environmental impact, which is why I believe we need to expect and accept a higher cost. To make products right, without harming the planet, paying its workers and supply chain fairly and for innovation for future green products it will cost more. Unfortunately, for years we have been buying products without knowing fully where they are from and this includes from sweat factories, child labour and more horrendous abuse of workers and the environment, we cannot have this wilful ignorance going forward into a ‘green’ future. To summarise ‘green’ products tend to cost more because they use raw materials that are usually more expensive, produced in smaller quantities, often of better quality and can have a small premium to ensure it is ethical, less harmful to the planet and even potentially having a positive benefit. Unfortunately, this can all greatly increase the price.
What can we do?
Where you can keep buying 'green'. The more that we do they will be mass produced making them cheaper. It will also lead to new technologies and innovation that are green and cheaper. Take it slow but over time you can obtain a collection of jars and bottles to use at your local zero waste store. Further to this, although many ‘green’ products have a higher cost they are often built to last and is reusable, which can make them cheaper in the long run. Finally, we also need to understand ‘green’ will cost more. To pay people fairly, have the additional measures so they do not harm the environment and to be made of a higher quality and to last this will always be the case. Perhaps think it as not paying more but paying fair.
Lack of Time
Another big impact is our lack of time. Unfortunately, when I grew up we are not taught what to look out for, how we harm our planet or much about sustainability and being ‘green’. Although, I believe this is changing now there are still millions who do not know where to begin or what is actually ‘green’. However, I understand that many of us do not have time to research and get educated on these subjects. It takes a lot of time to learn what it means to be ‘green’, what products or way of life is truly ‘green’ or to find the eco alternatives to fit into our life. As well as all the actions we need to do to negate the negative or increase the positive impacts on our planet. This all takes a tremendous amount of time, which I understand not everyone has.
What can we do?
Start slow, it is not a race. Any step, no matter how small toward a ‘greener’ world is great. So spending any time to achieve this is beneficial. Over time you can grow your knowledge and implement systems that make a change and help our planet. Just keep trying.
I know this is a bit of a self-promotion but follow on your socials or go to the blogs of eco, ethical and environmental bloggers. They spend a lot of time looking for ‘green’ products, summarising what to look out for and how you can help our planet, so by following them you can slowly learn more and make changes.
Greenwashing
Greenwashing is when companies make unsubstantiated claims to deceive consumer into believing their products are environmentally friendly when in fact they are hiding the negative impacts of their products from our sights. Unfortunately, people and companies lie or misdirect and this is done a lot with ‘green’ products. A product or service that is ‘green’ is more likely to sell, as it is what most people want. Therefore, if companies can make you believe that their products are green it is better for them. Most companies stick phrases like eco, environmental and the like onto their products without there being any true basis for it. At the moment these terms are not protect, so can be used by anyone without justification. Therefore, we need to remain vigilant to look out for unfounded claims or hidden negative parts of a product or service before we purchase them. If you want to know more on this, please read my article on greenwashing ‘Greenwashing: An Evil Mask!’
What can we do?
Get Educated! Learn to look out for how companies greenwash and what real sustainable, eco-friendly products are, so you can make an educated decision. This will take time to learn but once you have learnt the principles they can be applied everywhere. When making a purchase ask more, ask about the product, ask what makes it green, is it truly recyclable or meets the cradle-to-cradle principles. Once you have learnt what harms the planet and its inhabitants you can make choices to not contribute to that. Do not just take the word of a company but look at the companies actions and the impact of its products and service and together we can beat greenwashing.
Infrastructure
In the large societies we are living in today and with the controlling systems our governments have forced us into we are incredibly dependant on the infrastructure they put in place. This includes a wide variety of things including transport, energy, food, packaging and the very way we live our lives in our countries. The reason this can be a problem is because unfortunately the solutions to these issues are not always ‘green’ and can even be harmful to the planet. For example so much food comes in plastic, which is practically unavoidable if you want to live some what of a normal life. Also, the energy systems in place that we are reliant on for our survival might be reliant on oil and gas, which I do not have to explain how this impacts our planet. We are part of the system and the system forms our lives, so this can often control how ‘green’ our lives can be.
What can we do?
To solve this problem, we need to go to the source. This is the government and large corporation that produce our daily products and control so much of our lives. We must put pressure on them and demand they do better. You can do this in a variety of ways such as emailing them, signing petitions, protesting and joining groups that fight for our planet (peacfully of course). I always think we should try to start at work, this might not be easy but push for little changes there and over time the improvements will mount up everywhere. Keep making changes and demanding them and eventually we will have a 'green' way of life.
At the moment I believe there are a number of barriers that are preventing a ‘green’ future being fully adopted. Above are some of the largest barriers that need to be solved for the sake of our future. I wanted to raise these points, so we can better understand them, begin to discuss them and to help us reach a solution. To me I believe the biggest barrier to most is the cost, even if you want to be the perfect ‘green’ individual it can be almost impossible making you bankrupt. However, I do believe it is slowly getting better and more affordable. I also believe if more of us keep pushing and keep trying to be ‘green’ it will become the new norm and easier for all. I would be interested to know what you think is preventing a greener future and what we can do about it?
